There's a mystery stench in my office at home!

[HennyPennyHorror]

What can it be?? It smells sort of...stale. Like old bins or something.

It appeared suddenly...there's no food or drink spills...I only have one small sofa in here and no carpets or rugs. I've sniffed all over the sofa and curtains but it's not them...I can really smell it!

There's a bookshelf, my desk, a combustion fire and one sofa in here. It's doing my head in!

Dead rat in the walls??

Oh God don't say that! This house is built like a doll's house.. 1920s .Aussie weatherboard with nasty fake bricks which were added in the 60s. We had a possum fall down the chimney last year and it landed in the combustion stove...lucky the door was shut! DH rescued it in gardening gloves. Maybe one died in the walls!

I've just been discussing the same thing with DH. There's a mystery stench in the living room and bedroom. It's not really really disgusting, it's more like an underlying slightly stale smell - I can't even describe it.

I have to find it! I'd be embarrassed if a visitor came!

I'm wondering now if it could be some sort of damp. We've had a LOT of rain recently and as I say, this house is badly built. A bit of wall in DD's room nearby has bubbled...the paint's bubbled up...since the rain.

Can anyone else smell it?

Have you tried opening the windows and leaving them open all day, with the door closed?

Have you got a cat? Every time we've had a mystery smell its ended up being a dead mouse tucked away somewhere

Any plants ?

Humidity can bring out the smell of dirt. Can be old underlay, carpets being wet cleaned and over-wet which can cause mould to grow underneath.

It smells like old dirt. Can also be caused by damp walls. Or both. Sorry, I know what it is like and it only gets worse as the years go by.

If the paint has bubbled up, then it's probably damp

Dead rat would be my guess. The bin smell is the exact smell we had in our living room. Drive us crazy for a few days. Kept washing the bin. Turned out to be a dead rat. Bloody cats.

Is it your smellbow

I sympathise. There's a not very nice smell in my sitting room, particularly in one area. My husband can't smell it but I am not imagining it.

@cantfindname
😂😂😂

Electrical wires need replacing? Smells like something died, dangerous too.

What paint have you used? My inlaws had a disgusting smell in one room, they had carpets up and all sorts. Turns out it was the paint.

I read a thread on here about it recently. Valspar or something?

We've never painted here since we arrived 3 years ago. No carpets...we do have a cat though! But I've looked in every possible hidey hole for a mouse.

Is your house on stumps or a slab? If on stumps, there's always the capacity for something to pop its clogs.

Electrical problems smell fishy, apparently.

What is a combustion fire?

Sorry, should have said pop its clogs under the house.