Help me unravel this mystery before I burn the contents of this room down

[NotAgainWilson]

As the title says, I am feeling like purifying this room through fire after a week of cleaning. washing and replacing stuff has proved unsuccessful to remove the stench a short term lodger left behind.

The room was spring cleaned before his arrival. He was around for 3 weeks. He had massively smelly feet (I said that as the mother of a sporty smelly child that I could barely stand at times, but this is in a different league, more than ten times worse and resistant), after a week around I asked him if he could do something about the smell stench, he apologised (he was lovely and polite otherwise) and said he would get odour eaters to sort it.

It didn’t make a difference so, as I had told him when I rent the room that I would be going in to open the window to ventilate the room every morning, I got the super strength version of Odor Eaters and sprayed all his shoes every morning and left the window open the whole day. This helped the smell not to extend to other rooms as before.

The last of his 3 weeks, he had a cold so stayed at home, therefore I was unable to spray shoes if open the window. He left the room tidy but the stench is still there. It smells as if you have crossed bad smelly feet with buttery toffee and is of such strength you feel like vomiting.

The room was also left covered in some white fluff, very similar to the fluff you may find under the bed if you don’t clean for years, but it was EVERYWHERE, all around the floor, walls, furniture, picture frame and a lot of it has gone into the radiator. I cannot imagine such amount of fluff being produced in three weeks, much less so by a single person no matter how dirty they could be.

I have removed more than bucket load of fluff, vacuum cleaned and washed the walls, floors, furniture and the inside out of the radiator, used a whole can of Odor Eaters, Oust and a full bottle of Ecover as well as leaving the window open every day, one week later the stench is now a smell but is still unbearable.

I have bought a new duvet and pillows. But I am convinced that this situation can be due to either an endocrinology related issue or bacteria, and therefore not safe. Shall I burn all the bed linen? the whole room? I am at the end of my tether, have spent a week cleaning and again every day over the last week and the smell is still there.🤮🤮🤮🤮

Oh, and I also found this online:

Urgh! I've heard of strep throat but it sounds like he had strep foot!

I've not read all the thread but I once had a room with an awful odour and roasted coffee in a bowl made a big difference to remove the smell.
Worth a go maybe

Oh gawd! 🤮 That sounds like it! 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Tea tree essential oil diffused is also poisonous for pets I’m afraid…

Just for the record, you can kill moths and fleas in the fridge but bacteria and viruses are presserved by freezing.

Don’t know what one of my uncle’s did after the war but my great grandma used to make him put his shoes/work boots and socks out of the window when he got home and his feet sweat so bad that he could peel the skin off the bottom of his feet when he took them off! And she had to throw them straight into the wash 🤢🤣😂

You need a professional on this one, I'm afraid OP.
I was going to type "You need professional help" but that could've been misconstrued

That’s just reminded me. Cabin Crew use charcoal if someone is sick on the plane

Burning electrical wires can smell like cat pee - told to me by an electrician. Nothing like that was it?

Thanks so much for this by the way. I had no idea. And I have beautiful pets and use a diffuser. I use tree tree oil on my skin but not in the diffuser thankfully

and good luck with the smell. It sounds awful. Makes my problems in the house seem mild (and my house smells of cat trays, vomitty carpet and child poop carpet- but yours trumps mine.)
im
using lots of the ideas you have been given here!

I strongly disagree. When my cats have brought a mouse in and it’s been forgotten by them, even a tiny decomposing mouse stinks! You can track it down by the smell. I once had to move a whole IKEA Billy shelf of books as it became obvious there was one behind. It is a kind of foul, “buttery” smell. Check under floorboards if possible. I apologise in advance if someone has already stated this - not read whole thread. Good luck!

A rat fell into my deep fat fryer once and the fryer went with the rat😱in the big wheely bin outside 🤮

Lots of essential oils are dangerous to animals and imagine how intense they smell to creatures with such delicate noses. Dogs sense of smell is amazing so you should never burn diffusers around them. ☹️

Edit.... I find it just makes nasty smells even worse

That will teach me not to proof read before posting 🤣🤣🤣

Dead Persian cat under the bed?

You need to remove the radiator, clean the wall behind it thoroughly and inside the radiator too. Might need a plumber/knowledgeable handy man for it, but itd be worth it!

I'm finding this thread really fascinating 😆 desperate to know what the fluff was, and never knew those 2 infections posted upthread could cause smells like that.

The fluff has been vacuumed cleaned and taken away by the bin truck so can’t upload photos.

The smell is diminishing, we will be free of it in a few weeks I think. But what may take more time to shift is the idea that the blooming bastard left the house infested with streptococcus that we can catch at any time. You can’t wash that kind of bacteria off.

You can wash it off....as easily as any other bacteria. Its also susceptible to hand washing, alcohol hand gels and household disinfectant.
And it's unlikely you would catch it now let alone at any time.
Ditch the vinegar and use better disinfectant.

Could you contract one of those crime scene forensic cleaning companies?

Please OP could you say what the fluff was.

How can she tell us what the fluff was, she's said it's been vacuumed up and thrown away.

Have you spoken to the guy about it? He must have this problem wherever he goes.

Was he a nervy person? Was he shredding the toilet roll?

What was the room like when he left it? Would he have noticed anything if he looked around to check he had everything? (Even if he has lost his sense of smell, surely he'd notice all that fluff.)

Have you read the thread? The room was thoroughly vacuum cleaned and wiped off throughout with antibacterial bathroom wipes (walls, floors, furniture and any other surface) on three consecutive days, followed by vinegar washing on each of those days.

Anyone with a weak immune system can catch it. Unfortunately, we are one of those families.

if you think is so simple imagine your child sleeping and walking around that shite.