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?

Could they be hoarders? I live next door to one and although we're detached the front doors face each other and the smell when he's had the door open even for a minute is vomit inducing. Heavy,fusty, musty sweet and greasy,all mixed together. Sounds like you're describing.

Non of my stoner friends drink and most of my drinking buddies dont smoke weed.

You'll find most people usually favor one or the other and while I dont drink much Im definately in the drinker camp (being around smoke especially indoors and stoners like to hang out indoors usually, gives me a bad throat/cough thay takes a week to recover from).

Also I have 3 kids the amount of posts of people who smoke weed proudly while pregnant (many dont see weed as a drug or bad thing, likely the same amount that would smoke cigarettes while pregnant) is pretty shocking so smoking with a 4 month old honestly wouldnt suprise me that much.

You'd be surprised by the amount of professional people who smoke weed whilst making jam.

Oh no, it sounds revolting! And yes, like weed. I used to have neighbours who smoked it a lot, and the smell was so foul I ended up selling up to a couple who didn’t mind as they were also smokers!

This is my fear and tbh I think it’s possibly just this 🤢

@sjxoxo dry rot has a seat, acrid smell that hangs in the air like damp fungus. We looked at a house once that was riddled with dry rot and it hit you as the door opened. Old house, lots of wood, bit of damp - perfect breeding ground. If it is dry rot you have much bigger problems than living next to filth. I'd get Rentokil to call round.

Do they cook fudge? The cooking of condense milk smells horrible to me. Its like a sweet gone off yogurt smell. Making jam, not a huge leap to fudge.

I don’t think it’s dry rot. It’s not at all mouldy - it’s like sweet, pungent smell. Literally the only thing I can compare it to is the back of a services! Greasy, stale, sweet smell. Like cheap food and grime X

Decomposing bodies?

We are currently counting down the days until our awful next door neighbours move out. They have a pile of about 20 black bags of waste piled up in their garden right next to our wall. It includes a lot of dog poo from their massive dog, and they have left it out in the sun throughout the heatwave.

It smells fucking horrendous. Sickly, sweet, musty, pissy all at once.

Another thought...

Some people never quite dry their laundry properly/ leave wet washing in the washer for ages before drying and bedding, towels, clothes develop a foisty, musty, mouldy smell that I find incredibly noticeable but people don't notice themselves because they are around it all the time.

I’d assume weed - you’re within your rights to ask them to stop.

And to dob them in to social services - that amount of weed smoke (if that’s what it is) is a terrible risk to a baby.

We lived in a terrace for years - I doubt even the oven would be that bad. Chip pans, fried food and curry maybe, but if it’s not weed I can only assume something has soaked the floor boards (maybe by a previous occupier) and it’s lingering.

If they don’t fix it you can call the council and speak to environmental health, as well as cc’ing your local councillors when you contact the council officers.

My yd went to a party at a friends house when she was at primary school and the house had a very sweet but sickly off smell. I think it was a combination of a hot day and a house not the cleanest and smell shoes in the porch area, with no air getting through it. They invited me in but I made an excuse that we had to be somewhere.

My neighbour’s house smells similar to this. General filth over years. We share a back passage which recently had a door put in the end to help with the drafts but now the smell hangs around in their too.
I used to give her DD a lift to school and sadly sometimes had to drive with the window open as her clothes were permeated and smelled like dustbins used to in the old days. I don’t know how she coped at school.
they are nice, highly educated people and we get on well, I just tend to invite her to come to my house for a drink!

drains blocked with fat

I always think weed smells a lot like a zombie would smell after a few years festering in the ground. We had a fox die in a bin on our street once and it wasn’t discovered for a week. Similar smell. Like a rotted dead thing.

Oh my god some of your neighbours in these stories!! Shocking. I hope you are all rid of your various stinks! I am going to have to mention it and ask if they can smell it. I really don’t want to offend them because it’s been there so long I think they mustn’t be able to smell it.. I don’t think its serious drugs or anything really neglectful etc they’re nice people - it’s just manky for us! 🤢 I’m going to do further investigations. Mark this thread incase we get the Netflix doc deal in a few years time haha 😂

Reading about these houses that smell of dirt has freaked me out slightly. I’ve never come across it and can’t imagine anyone just not cleaning their house. And I am no domestic goddess! Now I am freaking out in case anyone thinks my house smells 😳

@MotherOfPuffling I think a lot of house odours come from pets to be honest. If you’re cleaning a bit and regularly - drying clothes properly, using a disinfectant and a good hoover I don’t think any one will be overpowered! What we are talking about here is years of grime building up and no sanitation of surfaces over long periods of time. I’m sure you’re fine! X

Why are people suggesting weed…most adults know what weed smells like as it has a distinctive smell. OP would know if she smelled weed 🙄

😂 This is brilliant

I hope so! Mine is cleaned and hoovered weekly and I am Dettol obsessed, so fingers crossed!!

@FrancescaContini …well… not an impossible leap is it. If I find out she’s been making fudge aswell as jam but only brought round a jar of Jam and not the fudge I’ll be a bit peeved tbh

😂

Rabbits, or some other creature that is kept in a cage and pisses onto sawdust?

Sweet pungent smell, it reminds me of when I was a kid, living close to an industrial brewery. Depending of the winds, it would smell in the whole town.
I know they're alcohol free, but could they be having a little bit of a craft brewery side hustle?