My neighbours really smell…heeelp

[sjxoxo]

I can see the ridiculousness of my issue BUT the smell is becoming unbearable for me to live with. We are attached on their side so our houses are joined.
The houses are very old- ours is having some renovations done, theirs was done several years ago so they’re not doing any work or anything like that. There is this horrendous stench from their house and I can’t for the life of me understand what it is. They are in their 30s and just had a baby like us, we are friendly. I can tell when their back door is open because I can smell the smell.. I have racked my brains as to the source but I just can’t think what it could be- it is quite a specific type of smell, kind of musty but sweet. Its constant, so not occasionally there- I can smell it any time their doors are open. I don’t think it’s a ‘rotting’ smell but it does make me feel a bit queasy; it’s thick, heavy and smells very very stale. Sort of sweet but not in a nice way. I wondered if they could be cooking with a certain type of oil or a fryer. I’ve never had one so can’t compare. I’ve been into their house before several times and it’s overpowering to me inside - it’s quite dirty (I don’t mean that as in insult) and their kitchen is on our side of the house; I can smell very strongly when she is cooking with her oven and the smell then is like an oven that’s full of grease and never been cleaned. You know when people have ‘their’ smell in their homes - obviously we all do and they are just that - it’s like theirs is really really intense and something is off with it. I don’t know if the smell is related to the oven; i have mentioned to her before that I can smell her oven and she did try and improve that but I just am at my wits end with it & don’t know what to do! I have these horrible thoughts we’ll all be on a Netflix doc in 20 years talking about something very sinister!!!! Heeeelp. Anyone have any similar stories or manky smells? Should I say something? What would you do?

[Loupenny25]

I'm involved in social work with lots of children from deprived backgrounds. Some children have a very distinctive "unwashed" smell which I've always thought has a sweet, sickly undertone to it. Its a very bizarre but distinctive smell that once you've experienced you know what it is immediately. I can only imagine the homes smell the same and is a combination of general lack of cleanliness and dirty clothes.

[PlasticCupPolitics]

Genuinely surprised that people are suggesting weed, I’ve smoked a lot of weed (back in the day) and smelt it frequently when visiting people’s homes for my job now and your description is not even close to how I’d describe it. It smells absolutely vile to me now but nothing like a sweet, musty smell. Are they maybe just burning incense a lot, or is it the smell of her making jam in a dirty pot? 🤷🏻‍♀️

[sjxoxo]

@Nannymaggy do you know what I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve noticed it when she’s been over at ours or when we’ve been sat outside with them so I think it’s just in the house. It’s like someone’s ‘house smell’ which I think most people have but very very strong & stale. Literally I think the thing I’ve smelt that’s most similar to it would be the back of a motorway services. Makes me think it’s fryer/grease!

[Gingerbreadcandle]

As ThePollutedShadesOfPemberley said, it sounds like what social workers call ‘the smell of neglect’, it’s a combination of dirt, rubbish that hasn’t been thrown out, nappies/ wet beds , clothes that haven’t been dried properly, cigarette smoke and/ or weed.
it sounds like it could be a combination ? Have you been in the house, could they be hoarders ?

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

@PlasticCupPolitics

Genuinely surprised that people are suggesting weed, I’ve smoked a lot of weed (back in the day) and smelt it frequently when visiting people’s homes for my job now and your description is not even close to how I’d describe it. It smells absolutely vile to me now but nothing like a sweet, musty smell. Are they maybe just burning incense a lot, or is it the smell of her making jam in a dirty pot? 🤷🏻‍♀️

That's because you smoke it, you're tolerant of it. Same as smokers ,they don't realise how strong smoke is.

[sjxoxo]

@Loupenny25 like the smell of cheap food?? That’s what I think it could be.

@Gingerbreadcandle i wouldn’t say they’re hoarders as in lots of stuff but I don’t think the housekeeping is great x

[OldFan]

Doesn't sound like weed to me, that tends to be smoky as well as herby.

Sounds minging whatever it is.

[SleepNeedSleepNow]

Tom cat?

[PlasticCupPolitics]

I don’t smoke it, I haven’t smoked it since I was about 15 (16 years ago!), as I said, it smells vile to me now, I can smell it instantly when I visit someone’s house (for my job) but that’s just not how I’d describe it at all.

Agree with PP re, smell of neglect perhaps?

[OldFan]

Could be a mixture of all sorts I suppose.

My uncle had collected quite a few bags of his faeces in his house, but you wouldn't have known from the smell quite what it was. It smelt like some bags in his porch contained some food waste that had gone off. It's only when I sneakily took the bags out to take any bits of food waste out, that I was confronted by what it was.

[PlasticCupPolitics]

Whoops, that was meant to be a response to @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor 🤦🏻‍♀️

[BlodynGwyn]

Weed these days smells just like a skunk. Whenever we drive by a place where it's grown or processed I always think someone ran over a skunk on the road and then I remember. Weed.

[crochetmonkey74]

I immediately thought of rats when you mentioned sweet smell.
A friend had rats, they died under her floorboards and rotted and it smelt like sweet cabbage in a warm bin

[fairycakes1234]

its weed, you would be surprised by the type of people who smoke weed, and usually the people who smoke weed arent big drinkers, its usually one or the other.

[Blueblell]

maybe they are anti soap/deodorant

[Imissmoominmama]

My jam making friend is a weed smoker- she uses it for pain and to relax her muscles.

[cheekychatta]

@MangoBiscuit

@cheekychatta Depends on how old it is, and which bit is decomposing. Sorry, I know that's gross. Rotting meat releases cadaverine and putrescine as the proteins break down. They have a nasty cloying sweetness to them, sickly and rotten, but not really earthy or musty. They don't smell like weed. Both compounds can also be present in very bad breath, the kind that makes your stomach flip. Humans have evolved to find both repulsive, with good reason.

Thanks . I guess it's like rotting chicken

[Soproudoflionesses]

@sjxoxo

Interesting so many are saying weed!! I just can’t imagine them smoking weed. They are zero alcohol and yesterday she gave us some homemade jam.. plus tiny baby- I just cannot imagine it being that! She is a doctors surgery receptionist and he works at a shipping dockyard. X

Not being judge but ifnshe smokes normal fags she may well indulge in weed too?
My new ndn smokes week absolutely fucking stinks.

[ThePollutedShadesOfPemberley]

@Gingerbreadcandle

As ThePollutedShadesOfPemberley said, it sounds like what social workers call ‘the smell of neglect’, it’s a combination of dirt, rubbish that hasn’t been thrown out, nappies/ wet beds , clothes that haven’t been dried properly, cigarette smoke and/ or weed.
it sounds like it could be a combination ? Have you been in the house, could they be hoarders ?

The friend I was describing offered a settee to a co worker and again, I was asked to shift it.

It had loose covers on that we removed to wash as they were so utterly filthy and when we removed the cushions, underneath you could see where a child or an animal had vomited and it had just had the cushion dropped back onto it and left to go dry. It took four washes to get the covers clean but the smell of her house stayed in the settee and after four days I was asked to remove the whole lot to the tip.

The new owner had put it out in the back garden as she couldn't bear the smell and it got wet. It honked a hundred times worse once wet and was twice the weight to lift.

Even after it was dumped I could smell the smell in my van for weeks and I realised that the rear off side seatbelt had been in direct contact. Once I washed that, it eased off.

Organic matter that is never cleaned is great for growing coliform bacteria and other very dangerous bugs and a lot of those bugs have a distinct smell of their own.

This stinky manky friend is in health care too and dispenses advice as part of her day job.

Being as the neighbour has nippers, is there a midwife that goes there OP?

[Cervinia]

If you know weed, you know weed. I hate it, but I know the smell.

its not a chip pan, fried food houses smell, like, greasy, mucky fat.

I think it’s a body. The quiet ones are always the worst.

[EmeraldShamrock1]

I think you'd recognise the smell of weed without any question.

Maybe they don't clean regularly or air the house, the heat is probably making the smell worse.

We had rogue neighbours for a few years who left household rubbish in the back garden until they had enough for a massive skip.

The smell was foul in the warm weather.

[onmywayamarillo]

@Cervinia

If you know weed, you know weed. I hate it, but I know the smell.

its not a chip pan, fried food houses smell, like, greasy, mucky fat.

I think it’s a body. The quiet ones are always the worst.

🤣🤣 so true they've got the old neighbours stashed in the walls

[Freddie28]

Rotting potatoes leave a terrible smell, perhaps she has some in a bag that she has forgotten about.

[QuimReaper]

@Freddie28

Rotting potatoes leave a terrible smell, perhaps she has some in a bag that she has forgotten about.

By sheer coincidence, I've just located a bag of rotten potatoes in the cupboard under the stairs and they smelled exactly like moth balls.

[PigletJohn]

You might consider having a Positive Ventilation system fitted, usually in the loft, with the air intake well away from the smelly neighbours.

They are usually bought to prevent draughts and reduce damp, but they slightly pressurise your house, preventing odours from drifting in.