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

315 replies

NotAgainWilson · 21/03/2024 11:39

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.🤮🤮🤮🤮

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mathanxiety · 21/03/2024 16:17

Dymaxion · 21/03/2024 14:34

According to a pest exterminator 'that ain't a mouse!' Mice are so small they don't decompose and smell

The one in my small wardrobe did !

Oh yes they do!

That's how we discovered what Dcat had hidden under the piano.

pandarific · 21/03/2024 16:18

I think we need a pic of the fluff @NotAgainWilson

Does it smell?

DrFoxtrot · 21/03/2024 16:30

The sweet smell is probably related to general body odour and it has probably permeated the mattress. I have had similar with a relative staying in my spare room. It only eventually went with airing for AGES. Like weeks.

GasPanic · 21/03/2024 16:39

Have you tried bicarbonate of soda ?

This can be used for neutralising fridge smells.

Get some, and spread it out over a large tray to get a big surface area to absorb the dodgey vapour.

Alternatively go full on NBC and get some activated charcoal.

TheCatterall · 21/03/2024 16:45

@NotAgainWilson massive sympathies to you and may your haz mat suit stay strong.

we’ve had some right horrors stay in flat and holiday homes we used to have.

first suggestions are - strip the room of all fabrics, remove (and dispose of if it smells at all) the mattress protectors.

basically leave the furniture you can’t remove in and that’s it.

then air the room constantly for a week. Leave the ensuite bathroom door ajar (if the bathroom is en-suite).

if the things you have removed don’t smell after a week - then we can eliminate any fabric things being an issue.

Do you have a garage or something the desk etc could go in for the purgatory session? Can it be dismantled and disinfected in case the smell is sticking to the underside of it?

Can you ask the lodger what his condition was as you are struggling to sort out the room. Yes it may upset him but so does foot rot stench infection to lovely room hosts. I’m sure there is a softer way to word it…

Did he walk around bare foot or in socks?

Jaxhog · 21/03/2024 16:49

NotAgainWilson · 21/03/2024 13:00

This is outing, my lodgers are science professionals in short term projects… I have been wondering if it could be something brought back from the lab.

My bet is a skin bacteria, we all have them and in the wrong conditions they get wild…

This could be it! They've brought some sort of experiment home and not told you. Ask them.

tara66 · 21/03/2024 16:51

Have you tried sprinkling Cat Litter on floor and bed etc? You leave it for a few days - it is messy though.

FangsForTheMemory · 21/03/2024 16:54

Was he vaping in the room without your knowledge. I had (briefly) a lodger who did this, and didn't work it out until after she'd left. The smell of her vapes and her disgusting scent combined and even now, two years after she went, the room she was in still smells different from the rest of the house.

I would wait until we get reliably dry weather and put the mattress outside for a week or so, covered in an old sheet in case of bird splats.

Anniegetyourgun · 21/03/2024 17:00

Getting a distinct H P Lovecraft vibe from this thread.

p.s. Dead mice totally do stink. Only for a few days, as their small bodies dry up quite quickly, but it's funky while it lasts.

nightmareXmas · 21/03/2024 17:01

I'd be throwing out all of the linens and the mattress, and the blind. It's not fair to the next lodger to have to sleep on them, apart from the smell.

Ventilation is obviously key, but, as @RhubarbGingerJam suggests, have you tried an air purifier? I find mine very effective in removing strong cooking smells, and the fumes from next door's woodburner. A couple of powerful ones left in the room overnight when windows are closed might help.

When the windows are open, try positioning an electric fan pointing out of the window to force the smell out.

When all that's done, perhaps you should send him a bill for everything you've had to throw out.

wineoohh · 21/03/2024 17:02

I second an ozone machine. You can get one for about £70 on Amazon. They actually neutralise the source of the smell, not just cover it up.

nightmareXmas · 21/03/2024 17:04

Regarding ozone machines, US government guidelines say they are potentially unsafe and can trigger respiratory illness.

cakewench · 21/03/2024 17:08

This won't help now but, the only success I've had combating feet/shoe smell was with the charcoal-based Odour Eater insoles. I'm just putting it out there in case anyone reading wanted a tip.

Most sprays just seem to cover the smell, and not very well.

I thought for sure this was going to be a situation where the carpet would need cleaning, but since I've seen you say there is no carpet, I'm absolutely mystified, sorry!

Shiveringinthecountry · 21/03/2024 17:09

Vampire? 🤔🧛‍♂️

cakewench · 21/03/2024 17:10

Oh I should also add: are the curtains new? I had a set of blackout curtains from Dunelm which genuinely made the room reek of feet. I blamed our visitors (I'd bought the curtains just before they came to stay) but eventually figured out it was the curtains.

I left them up for a month and they never aired out, it was just a constant stench. Thankfully they took them back!

Blackalice · 21/03/2024 17:13

Mama2many73 · 21/03/2024 12:14

According to a pest exterminator 'that ain't a mouse!' Mice are so small they don't decompose and smell so it's either a rat or many mice! Didn't make me feel much better!😔

Trust me, when one of my daughter's pet mice died the smell was horrific and we found her after a day or so so I dread to imagine if any longer. I can still remember the smell 🤢

tolerable · 21/03/2024 17:20

Might be way off-had the misfortune of flat share years ago with a (didnt stay secret long)addict. the lint\fluff could be maybe off cottonballs "filter" used for jaggin?... do it smell smell too?

Mirabai · 21/03/2024 17:23

Shiveringinthecountry · 21/03/2024 17:09

Vampire? 🤔🧛‍♂️

Yes.

Begsthequestion · 21/03/2024 17:24

@tolerable What's jaggin?

Uniqueusername2 · 21/03/2024 17:24

Coffee beans ? I heard they absorb smells

MikeRafone · 21/03/2024 17:30

go and purchase a bag of onions

cut two onions in half

leave around the room

the onions will help to absorb the smell, they really do
after 2 days through away onions and replace with new fresh onions

you'll notice the onions have absorbed the smell and look different

NotAgainWilson · 21/03/2024 17:33

InterestedinEfteling · 21/03/2024 13:38

It just sounds like athlete's foot on steroids. How disgusting. The fluff was probably not fluff it was probably flakey skin off his rotten feet. This would put me off lodgers forever.

Same, if I was not surviving (partially on that income) this would be my absolute last one. The others have been great, great company and very good interesting conversation, this one as well, but good grief... how could he leave the room like that is beyond me.

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PuppetQueen · 21/03/2024 17:37

Did you redecorate just before he moved in? There is a paint which is notorious fir being smelly...Valdspar, I think it's called. Could it be that?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40655163

B&Q store

B&Q in payouts over bad paint smells

The DIY chain is to compensate people who experienced bad smells after using Valspar paint.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40655163

Pixiedust1234 · 21/03/2024 17:38

I bet he had really bad Athletes foot, and that white fluff was skin cells sloughing off. When I had a really bad auto immune reaction to something my feet were flaking so badly I used to have to empty my socks every night for months. Was like a bucket of sand hitting the bin. Yes, it really was that gross!!

Get some Athletes Foot spray, or talc, and dose the main areas.

NotAgainWilson · 21/03/2024 17:39

PoochiesPinkEars · 21/03/2024 13:47

This should pique their professional curiosity then and it can be at the cutting edge of science, could end up with unintended consequences like a new cure for cancer via some weird property or other of this exciting discovery.

Wait!!!
You probably know if this already, but can you send a swab... They are looking for weird things here...

https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/public-engagement/swab-send#:~:text=Help%20us%20hunt%20for%20the%20next%20antibiotic!&text=If%20you%20choose%20to%20give,literally%20be%20on%20your%20doorstep.

I'm not even joking. 😁😁😁🤓🤓🤓

The new penicillin! Bred in my very own house! Not the way I would like to go in history but... sigh*

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