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 mouse under the floorboards?

What a great thread. I agree the mattress sounds like the culprit, but here's a thing if it's mice under floorboards and you can't get them but there are cracks that the smell could be wafting through. Get some peppermint oil, the real stuff from a chemist that's quite caustic to touch so use goves. Soak kitchen roll or q tips in it and push through cracks in boards where you can. This deters mice for months and could get rid of the smell too.

We had mice actually nesting in the back channels of our fridge for ages before we could work out where the stench was coming from, thought it was milk somewhere in the fridge. Ultimately realised it was mice as our cats hung around there so much (not catching anything of course). But couldn't locate them til we pulled the fridge out -- is one of those vintage style affairs and when the casing had been detached from the back we saw they had made a little settlement in the gubbins behind.

Sorry, use gloves not goves. Although it conjured up a sweet little fantasy of many little michaels being soaked in toxic oil and being pushed through cracks head first...

How old is your carpet? We were looking to replace my DD carpet (which we did) but it was actually the underlay that stank so we replaced that too.

Are either if you diabetic? That can also cause smells, most describe it as a fruity smell but it could cause the smell you describe.

Can you drag your mattress out for a few days and see if the smell either goes or moves with the mattress?

Have you flipped the mattress?

Have you used Valspar paint op?? Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it as haven’t read all of the responses. B & Q have compensated people for the awful smell caused by this paint. The smell can last for years I believe.

Have you painted or decorated the room recently?
We once painted our cloakroom and hall and we’d had the paint mixed up at b&q and it smelled really fishy.

It's going to be the bakelite light fitting. We've had it in several rooms over the years. Whatever it is, it isn't you. You'll be paranoid you poor things.

Hi
Random but have you checked your electrics. They can give off a funny smell.

Are you sure its BO? Might just be a musty smell coming from anywhere. Neutradol powder is good. It Must be coming from 1 particular thing so sniff carefully very slowly. Carpet cleaning is is very good idea.
If you end up convinced its the mattress, dont buy Ikea unless u have an ikea bed as theyre strange sizes, use this guy, pocket sprung luxury double mattress Half the price of any shop. call him for delivery time and best price cash, cannot recommend enough, u wont believe his mattresses when you see them!
www.hymasmattresses.co.uk/

Do you have feather pillows? They can smell really bad when they get warm or damp. Your body heat could be warming them up...

My daughter disapproves of things "unnatural" but FEBREZE works - latest used for damp mouldy smaell in bedroom no longer in use. I used F on the mattress and the curtains and in newly emptied cupboards. I think doing the mattress finally worked.

Check behind bed, on skirting boards and back of headboard for black marks. If you find spray with water and wipe. If cloth goes red you have bed bugs. Smelly little creatures. I do hope it's not cos hard to get rid of.

@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!

Vodka in a spray bottle watered down helped when my son was a teenager and I thought his feet were going to force us to leave.

Sounds very distressing. However I bought a second hand sofa and it absolutely stank of smoke and damp. I used (professional use only but they sent it to me anyway) Bactericidal Deodoriser, Neutralise (cotton fresh) by The Chemical hut. It got rid of all the smell. This should be done in an aired room/windows open and left for a good few hours and you do need to let this seep into the fabrics. I swear by this product. My sofa is a natural cotton and linen fabric and smells really great now, not a hint of the heavy smoke smell.

This may have been posted already - I haven’t read all the posts...
I’ve seen advice that your bed shouldn’t be fully made up - leave the duvet off the bed - someone hung hers over the bannister and put it back on at bedtime. Apparently all the heat and mites (that are in every bed) sort of ‘percolate’ under the duvet.
Good luck on your search.

Could something have died under the floorboards? I’m not joking - dead rats/mice/squirrel smell like gas could be like bo?

Please let us know how you get on sweetie

Could you move an item at a time (eg mattress) from your room to another room to see if the smell transfers to the other room. Might be a way of narrowing it down. Also, is it possible there could be a dead mouse behind a chest of drawers, or something?

Wardrobe door smell I think could be the oil that is used to preserve wood, or glue in composite

Apologies if I’ve repeated another comment - we had a similar problem in my DS’s room - when we moved in, I redecorated, but didn’t strip the old wallpaper on the ceiling & just painted over it. During the first lockdown, we redecorated again, this time I stripped the ceiling and, oh my, the reek! It completely solved the problem, no more horrid BO smell. I think it was the old paste or the paper itself was decaying.

I really hope you find it!

I had this in a house I lived in a few years ago. Initially I thought it was just the smell of boys who had lived there before. It was actually the smell of wood rotting and it smelled exactly like body odour. I would get the floor boards lifted