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!

I have this issue. Its definitely coming from my husbands arse in his sleep. Pig.

What a fascinating thread! Although I do feel sorry for the people that were desperate enough to sniff their light fitting

Nocturnal flatulence is the most likely culprit.

New sheets? My teen DS room absolutely reeked and I finally worked out it was a new fitted sheet I bought him. Smell persisted despite several washes so in the clothes recycling g it went.

Does the cover zip off the mattress? If so, bung it in the wash and prop the mattress up to air. Although I agree that it’s more likely to be the light fitting or old plastic or MDF (fake wood) which often uses smelly glue.
If you can sleep in the spare room for a few days, you’ll see if the smell follows you, and the mattress will have time to dry out properly.

OP,

Does the odour ever go away completely, without using odour masking agents like plugins?

For example,
When you change all the sheets etc, does the odour go away for a bit and comes back at some point ?

Do you have the loft hatch in your room? We have the same thing and we've worked out that the smell is coming from the loft insulation material. Nothing we can really do about it except trying to mask it or replace ALL of the insulation.

Wow. Who knew there were so many things it could be!

massively overinvested in this thread now!

You haven’t got someone living in your attic , that comes down when you’re out?

@Juniland

Valspar paint can give off an awful smell sometimes , a long time after paint , a bit like cat's per or b.o !! Have you used that paint ? We had a room that smelt like that for years.

Omg ,yes! I painted dd’s room with valspar and it’s the nastiest smelling paint ever . I can still smell it ever so slightly now and that was over a year ago .

i'm another one for saying its the mattress. if you've checked everything else off then it has to be that?

@LeGrandBleu

This happened to DS1's room. We emptied everything and it still stank. Turns out he had spilled some milk on carpet months ago. A very tiny amount but that was enough. Make a washing preparation with white vinegar and washing up liquid and wash the carpet and see if it makes a difference

When DS was about 7 we went away for the Easter holidays. When we came back there was the most Godawful smell in the flat. Finally tracked it down to DS room and his school backpack. Before the holidays the school had done an egg painting activity with hard-boiled eggs and let the kids take them home. We'd been in a rush to get away on the Friday so I hadn't emptied his bag and the (now crushed) egg had turned green!

@Deez65

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.

I tried this HG Odour Eliminator spray. hg.eu/uk/products/hg-eliminator-of-all-unpleasant-smells-at-source

I think our problem is wet feet on old carpet and someone who can't be bothered to dry their feet properly.

Check under the floor boards for dead animals.

If its the light bulb call an electrician immediately. Had the same priblem electrical fault xxx

Any luck OP?

We had a similar issue in our bedroom. After trying everything we could think of to get rid, my husband hacked off the plaster, put up some appropriate plaster board, plastered the wall. Apparently at one time the house had built in wardrobes, which were got rid of because of a bad smell. Seems it seeped into the walls. All ok now, no bad smell. Just lucky my husband is one of those handy guys.

I'm so curious, really need to know what's causing it

I washed my sons mattress topper and had to throw away as it smelt dreadful after, so maybe that's the problem.

Oh dear @SlopesOff 😯

Who is the 'someone' who doesn't properly dry off their feet??

Do we get a prize if we guess right 🤣

Op I'd try to tackle it with shake and vac, bicarb on the mattress ( leave both for a few days before you hoover), febreeze on any fabric, a de-humidifier in case of any hidden mould behind wardrobe etc and a mould/ bleach spray in such areas.
Otherwise I think you do have to look towards yourself/ dh as maybe one of you has a health condition....have heating on max 16 degrees in the house aswell. Hope you sort it !

Mould is really smelly, dead animal trapped somewhere maybe under floorboards, is it an old building ? may have to get pest control round. Sorry

Could it be the carpet? I put shake and vac on mine once a month or so.
My boys room smells like that. They're 6 and 11. I air our their room a couple times a week but it always ends up smelling funky.