Smell from downstairs neighbour

[H3yth3r32020]

Not an AIBU but hoping someone will be able to help out!

We live in a first floor flat - purpose built but very old building. Lovely elderly gentleman is our downstairs neighbour. Flats are the same layout and he uses the 2nd bedroom as his room, meaning its below our spare room.

We've been getting the room ready for our baby to move out of our room soon and have noticed over the last couple of months a very strong smell of urine coming up from downstairs - we can't seem to clear our spare room (soon to be baby's room) of the smell, even when leaving the windows open all day everyday.

Obviously air freshener only masks the smell but can anyone think of any alternative we can try to prevent this?

From neighbour's point of view, he seems able to look after himself still and we've not noticed a smell around his person (though obviously with covid, contact has been quite brief recently!) so we're flummoxed as to how the smell could be so strong in his bedroom that its coming up to our flat - but obviously not something we can broach with him, so just looking for solutions we can try within our flat!

Appreciate this is a little niche, but we're obviously concerned about having a 6 month old sleep in there - so any advice is very welcome!

A smell of urine usually isn’t pungent enough to come through a floor. Urine smells tend to be other things.

Do you smell it all the time. Day or night?

vertical blinds - I kid you not!
For ages I could smell something strange in my living room & I couldn't figure out where is was coming from. Than one hot sunny day I traced it to the vertical blinds - & apparently certain makes when they get hot or old start to whiff & no matter how I try to clean them it doesn't go (bleach/detergent/ whatever the smell disappears for a while than it comes back). So check soft furnishings (cushions carpets & outside your front door or drains below your window or if a pigeons or seagulls have pooped just outside or some of the grotty disinfectants smell gross

We had rats in our garden shed. It stank of their wee. Could have rodents under the floorboards?

Rats. It’s THE main sign beyond chewing. Call rentokill or similar and let them deal with it. They pee in one place but range quite far.

You could seal off the vent in the chimney breast. Although that can lead to dampness in the brickwork. If the smell diminishes it would narrow down causes at least.

Who is upstairs? If someone is pissing on the floor them the smell is more likely to seep downwards than upwards.

Does the waste pipe deism his toilet come up outside that window? They usually have a cap on that stops smells. It may be broken??

Thought rats/ mice also - would imagine more likely than the smell coming all the way from downstairs.

I would ask him subtly if he's noticed a weird ammonia smell around his far wall/room underneath yours as you're trying to determine whether you need an electrician or pest control.

If he asks what kind of smell, just say a strong urine kind of smell.

You're not accusing him then, and he might genuinely not be causing it but at least it narrows it down.

This may sound silly, but have you checked the wiring?

FIL once had a lodger who we thought smelt a bit odd / needed to wash his stuff more. The smell stayed after he moved out. When we redecorated the room, we discovered a damaged piece of wiring under the floorboards that was smoldering!!! It was the cause of the smell

a strong smell of urine/ammonia is a feature of rat infestations ( and mice). Look for other signs ( poo, gnawing. Leave a bit of bread on the floor overnight as a test)

If you need to get rid of rodents Use traps not poison. If poisoned rats die under the floor, above the ceiling, or some other inaccessible place the smell is awful (don't ask how I know this)

I doubt it's from him. Have you painted the room? Paint can have a problem where it smells of ammonia, if the paint smells when you sniff the walls then you need to look at a specialist paint to cover it over to solve the problem. I wouldn't be spraying room freshener in a babies room I can't imagine that would be good for their lungs and neither will ammonia! I think it is actually crazy to imagine even if he pees himself(?!) that the smell would reach a room above him! Lots of things can make an ammonia smell as people are pointing out, you need to investigate these causes not blame some poor old man! Good luck!

Our sons bedroom stank of urine, especially when he opened the window. We could also smell it occasionally at the front door (under his bedroom window). It wasn't until a load of moss slipped of the roof in which his window sits and landed in the garden path that we realised it was that causing the smell, it was reeking.

I'd get the plumbing checked, just in case. are you on good enough terms with your neighbour to invite yourself in for a cup of tea and have a sniff round? Also is the smell human urine, which is completely different from cats' or dogs'?

Potentially mice in the walls/ floor boards?
Try blocking up any holes with filler.

For getting rid of smells- try making a bicarb of soda deodoriser. Bowl of bicarb should absorb moisture and potentially smells. Talcum powder does this too.
Give the curtains a wash and the carpet a shampoo too. (If you have carpet in there)
Whilst it’s sunny leave the windows open to try and get diff air circulating.

Is it definitely an ammonia smell or more of a fishy smell? That can signal dodgy electrics.

Is it possible he uses a commode in that room at night ? And maybe doesn’t clean it out thoroughly

Get your electrics checked, I kept getting a whiff of pee in our house when we first moved in. Turned out the shower switch wasn’t wired properly and was melting inside

Pest control ASAP. Good luck OP.

Rats

What kind of floor do you have in there? After replastering to fill in any gaps in the walls, we have identified that the smell of next door’s cigarettes is coming through the floor where we have bare floorboards. We’re going to put down some Lino or thick carpet to see if that helps.

@MrsTulipTattsyrup

Oh, and one other thought - old carpet can smell like urine when the glue breaks down.

This has possibly solved a conundrum that has long haunted my parents' house. Thank you!

There was a smell of urine in my utility room yesterday - it was those new green compostable carrier bags from the Co-op .

If you can’t smell urine around him it probably isn’t him so to mention it would be unkind IMO. However it obviously needs to be sorted. Have you asked other neighbours if they have noticed anything and go from there.

Dunelm plain blackout curtains stink for weeks! Have you replaced the curtains?

@Deckchair1009

Dunelm plain blackout curtains stink for weeks! Have you replaced the curtains?

Was about to say this! I kept thinking out cat was scent marking but nope, the black out curtains!