Embarrassing problem! Need advice

[Serena1977]

So embarrassed so I'm asking anonymously.

Me and dh's bedroom smells of BO and has done for a few months. We shower/bath everyday and wash everything at 60 degrees once a week. I have the windows open all day. I have cleaned the whole room extremely thoroughly and clean regularly anyway. I have had the curtains dry cleaned, replaced the duvets and pillows and bed spread. Sometimes it seems a bit less then it's back.

Nowhere else in the house smells, we don't, the kids rooms don't. My last idea is the mattress but I can't afford to replace it and it's not that old and super comfy.

Any advice greatly welcomed!

Dead rodent under the floor or in the walls

anything stored under the bed? we had an awful smell of cheesy feet in our bedroom. Tracked it down to a box of Christmas decorations under the bed, specifically a mantelpiece garland . Binned it - smell no more.

I've notice before that old plastic can have a smell similar to BO. Maybe plastic boxes under the bed? Or any smelly plastic fixtures somewhere else?

Can you both smell it?

Is it a sort of sweet/bins smell (sorry, I can't think how else to describe it)? A dead mouse or similar can cause a terrible smell after a while. I worked in a place where the terrible BO-type smell was making people feel ill and after months they traced it to a cat who had crawled in under the building and died. It's a sort of pungent smell that's a bit BO like.

Is your bedroom above the kitchen? I ask because sometimes extraction fan ducting can split and leak air under the floor boards which can smell like BO...particularly fried onions.

@Serena1977

Thank you for your replies.

I have checked everywhere and there is no damp in the room, no smelly light fittings, headboard is leather. No shoes except in porch.

We are clean, we dont smell but I suppose we do sweat, I'm at the beginning of the menopause and my husband does sweat easily but our body's dont smell and we always have the window open even in winter because we dont like it hot at night.

Over time sweat gathering in the mattress can smell. My dh used to sweat like a bloody race horse. The mattress was wet to touch every day.

Definitely try bicarb. It might take a few goes at it but it can't hurt.

After my Dad died, his flat reeked of stale smoke (well, it did before he died, but we needed to shift it!).
Googled and found advice on leaving bowls of white vinegar about. Did that, went back after a few days expecting it to smell like a smoky fish and chip shop - but the vinegar really had worked and the smel was starting to dissipate. Took a bit longer to clear it totally, but sold the flat pretty quickly.
I'm not sure if it works on all smells, but worth a try once you've located and eradicated the source of the smell to clear any residue- better than masking it with artificial chemical smells.

@Thewiseoneincognito

Have you considered inviting a priest around? It could be some kind of entity you need to have removed.

This lol

If it is the mattress, can you shove it outside to air if we get a dry sunny day? And get a cotton mattress protector or topper (or two) that you can wash regularly.

One of the doors in our kids room stinks, think it was the paint used. I have to spray clean it and wipe it down regularly. We rent! Otherwise I would swap it.

Light fittings cause terrible smells? My bathroom smells like something's died in it recently (except it's been two years) and I wonder if it could be that...

And before you wonder, no, the terrible smells isn't caused by that 😂

We had blackout curtains in a room and the lining stank

I’ve no idea but I’m finding this thread completely fascinating so thank you for asking the question!

Is the mattress memory foam? They often have a funky smell especially when new, they should be aired (ideally outside but I’d say in a room with doors/windows open might help

Maybe you should get (an honest) second opinion from a friend. Maybe they can pin point the smell if they are fresh to it , so to speak.

@Georgyporky

Off at a tangent, but how long has this been a problem?

Have you had, or suspected, CV19? This would certainly affect your sense of smell

Not everything is about Covid.

Can other people smell it in your bedroom? also do you have anyone who would kindly tell you if you had problems with BO? (I think as people we get used to our own body odour) perhaps yours has changed due to menopause, or your more sensitive?

Things to check for musty/sweaty smells:

• Towels - especially if you leave them to dry in your bedroom.

• Clothes stored in your wardrobe/drawers and any clothes left out on the back of the door/chairs etc.

• wardrobe/drawers and any furniture in your bedroom can sometimes become musty.

• Do you have pets that sleep on your bed?

• Mattress - sometimes they get a musty smell.

• carpets/rug.

• do you have a fireplace or loft access in your bedroom?

• do you dry clothes on your bedroom radiator?

Old plastic furnishing or cheap carpet underlay? Our ongoing kitchen stench ended up being the glue that held down the vinyl flooring. It used to make the whole house smell and went as soon as we put a new floor down.

Nothing to add to all the good suggestions but I'm oddly invested in this now and would like to know what it is!

@ItsA1WayStreet

A pp mentioned IKEA wardrobes - we had 2 that we had to throw out. The smell from the doors after a couple of years was pure BO! Took us ages to track down.

Same here with the Ikea wardrobes... relieved to know I’m not alone

I was going to say light fitting as well. It does smell fishy when it’s from that.

Some women can have a heightened sense of smell during their Menopause, does anyone else smell it too OP?

Process of elimination.
Remove all the clothes and other items in the wardrobes and put in a different room.
Inconvenient but doable.
When you take your clothes off at night put them into the other room.
Then see if the smell remains.
Or indeed if the smell takes up residence in the room where the belongings are stored.
It will also be easier to identify where it's coming from.
Have you memory foam pillows by any chance?
Or a memory foam mattress topper?
If so the pillows could be heating up at night and releasing the sweaty smell.
You'll have to do the same elimination tests with the mattress if you can't identify it.
Put the mattress in a different room (sitting room?) and sleep down there a couple of nights.
See if the smell moves with it.

@Littlefluffyclouds13

This is going to sound odd.... Do you have an ikea wardrobe? Dd had the smelliest room when she was about 13, smelt so much like bo. Poor girl was mortified, we washed everything, tried various deodorants but it wasn't her! Dh in desperation smelt literally everything in her room and discovered that her wardrobe doors absolutely stank We took them off and replaced them with mirrored ones and the problem was instantly solved. They really did smell of bo!!

This!

We had IKEA wardrobes in our bedroom in our last house and they developed this smell. We moved house, brought them with us and the smell came too. Binned them and got new ones. No problems
since.

It’s a thing.