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!

Have you tried Fabreze? You can spray it on all your fabrics, curtains, mattress, carpet etc, and it doesn't even cost much. Worth a try?

@SuddenArborealStop

It's worth checking the light bulb, we had a room smell of fish years ago, turned out to be the light bulb.. As above sniff everything in the room no matter how absurd you feel

My God, I've had that same smell in our house and it drove me mad! How did the lightbulb generate a fishy smell??

How old is your mattress? They can stiiiink after a while.

Do you have a pet that might have brought in something unpleasant and hidden it? We had horrid smells in the dining room in our last house and DH found a rotting mouse under the standard lamp when he moved it!

SuddenAborealstop we had the light bulb fish smell years ago, took us months to figure out where the smell was coming from. I actually think it was the heat of the bulb as it was an older type 150watt bulb melting the old plastic pendant fitting.

You say you've decorated @Serena1977 - is this because of the smell, or is the smell since you've decorated? I was going to suggest pregnancy (rather than menopause) but you say your mom can smell it too - it's definitely something in the room - can you remove as much as is possible - light bulbs, clothes, shoes, bin, plastic items - and keep going with the emptying until the smell disappears - if it doesn't then you've at least narrowed it down.

Personally I think weed smells like cats piss.....
I bought new feather pillows, they absolutely reeked 🤮
Could it be feather pillows or duvet?

It sounds like you've done everything imaginable so that only leaves the possibility of something under the floorboards or behind a wall.
Do you have a false wall over an old fireplace? (most terraces or period properties do) a bird could've come down the chimney and died.

Hi I stayed in a holiday home once with this issue! I narrowed it down to the plastic vertical blinds- the sunlight was heating the plastic giving off this smell. Worth checking for something similar- whether heated from radiator or sun?

Smell all the paintwork in your room. I've found that certain paints can have a sweaty smell. Especially radiators if they've been painted.
Do you have an en-suite?
Ours is south-facing, and on hot days our shower screen door smells sweaty.

There was a terrible smell in my old bedroom at my parents, eventually the parents discovered a dead rat in the top of a built in wardrobe, ughhh! The live abroad and the rats are enormous.

Pets leaving their mark?

Wetsuits stored in our bedroom caused this sort of stink

We've experienced a fishy shower and, in the last b and b we stayed at, a BO smelling kettle, so anything could be the culprit! The kettle really was uncannily awful...

dead mouse under something? hopefully not under the floorboards

I wouldn’t use shack n vac on your mattress - not great for your skin!
I would sprinkle a few drops of tea tree oil and shake it up in a tub of bi-carb-soda and use that like a shake n vac ... leave it to sit for a while, can be used on carpets too!

@Serena1977

Not sure if someone has mentioned already. We had similar problems and it turned out to be our memory foam mattress. We got a company in as I’d been told all sorts of things and they straightaway said it was the memory foam mattress. It wasn’t a cheap one and they said it can just be how your body sweat reacts and everyone is different. We replaced with another mattress that was also memory foam but slightly different type and has been fine for last 4 years. Hope you sort soon.

It’ll be the mattress. You can get a cover that zips up and seals it. Might help with the smell.

It could well be the mattress. Our previous one became stinky quite early in its lifetime and for no apparent reason. It was quite a distinctive smell.

I should add that our old and stinky mattress was also memory foam...

Do you have a cat?could it have peed on the carpet? We moved into a house where prev tenant had a cat who seemed to pee copiously in bedroom. Carpet had to be replaced. The smell lingered in certain weathers.

Agree with bicarb on mattress but add to it some tea tree oil (anti-bacterial also some lavender oil, approx 10 drops of good quality oil) sprinkle all over, leave all day, hoover off.

Check through all your pockets in your and drawers.
You maybe have been tidying up put some food in your pocket ect to throw away when you went downstairs and forgot about it.
I read on here before a woman found food her husband had forgotten about. X

Wow so many smelly things - who knew!
And so many people don't read the full thread!
Favourites suggestions so far is to use vodka!
Also 'do you have sex' 😂
A few 'put it in the spare room' like everyone has one.
Just waiting for 'move house and see if it goes with you'

Check under any woven floor coverings for black mold, as well. It can smell very musty, and is dangerous for your health. Check walls in cupboards, closets, wardrobes as well.