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.🤮🤮🤮🤮

If it’s a fungus I’d perhaps get in touch with the university to ask if they can identify it/if anything has escaped from their labs… only half joking!

Is there anything/anywhere where something could have been hidden to rot and smell, on purpose.

you say he was lovely , etc etc, you did mention his feet etc etc, but maybe just maybe you seriously upset him and he’s secreted something like fish etc somewhere you wouldn’t think to look, like in the story I read the other day of the women who put prawns in the curtain rails of the home her ex husband forced her to leave.

He and his new woman couldn’t stand the stench, couldn’t find it either, so decided to sell up, she purchased the stinky house and he apparently stripped it of everything including the stinky curtain rails.

so slightly off on a tangent but maybe you need to force up a loose floorboard or two. Hope you sort it soon 💐💐💐💐

Bizarrely I was thinking of this maple sugar thing as I was reading your posts. If he has this, I don't he can help it or do anything about. I read a Patricia Cornwell Kay Scarpetta book where the murderer had this some years ago, but I've always remembered it.

Biological Aerial powder and bicarb sprinkled liberally everywhere, leave for a day and vacuum. Windows open too.

Has a mouse made a nest in the mattress? Could be causing the fluff as it goes in and out?

Not sure vinegar actually kills spores though, especially diluted
And bagging them will just trap moisture in and create a humid environment.

Buy an ozone machine. You will need to run it a few times and completely seal the bedroom door and start away a few days ( from the bedroom ) but works in any smell as it kills all living things from bacteria to fungos

I think I would have to move.

Haven’t RTFT cos it’s quite vomit inducing even thinking about the smell as described but I’d suggest since you’ve already tried enzyme cleaner, maybe spraying cheap vodka out of a spray bottle into the headboard, mattress (any colour-fast soft furnishings basically) as it smashes bacteria. If you mist gently it might be okay on an armchair (test the back first). If all else fails you might want to redecorate? We bought a flat from a couple who had two incontinent indoor cats and only decorating and weeks of airing really beat it.

I second spraying with cheap vodka. Add a couple of drops of tea tree oil too.

This sounds like foot fungus. I've had previous dealings with this but only in shoes. Strangley when I worked in a lab my feet had a tendency to smell like supurating death as well.
There's an anti fungal shoe spray I got from ? Superdrug that works really well - like death feet one day and back in the land of the living the next day.

What type of lab did he work in? Hopefully not Porton Down.

Im way too invested in this now so following in hope you get some answers as it sounds waaaay beyond my level of cleaning ability 😬

Slightly off topic, but an old fashioned cure for stinky feet is to soak them in a solution of potassium permanganate. Stains your feet, but they do stop stinking. It must kill the bacteria or infection that's causing the stink. What you do about stuff your feet have stunk up though, I do not know.

Nosyoldcow, that sounds amazing, do you get purple feet?
My shoes never came indoors without the shoe spray but the house never smelled of death feet so I think it must work. My housemates were very, very blunt so I imagine no one wouod have felt shy of telling me I smelled like a drain.

He washed clothes with tissues in and the fluff is from where he’s shaken the tissue out of the clothing?
As for the foot smell, he’s sewn a smelly sock in the curtain seam 🤣

It might be a dead mouse/rat. The smell is horrendous but it eases after a few weeks when it decomposes. Might that rather than feet.

I know what dead mice smell of but this is different it smells as butter, toffee and feet stench mixed together.

Thank you all for all your suggestions, I have tried everything aside if the bicarbonate and getting a new mattress.

I am sorry I have not had the opportunity to reply to each post, some very good suggestions here, particularly the one about getting an exorcist.

As for feet conditions… @tarkan,
I wonder if I should sell the house and leave the country 🤮

There are definitely no prawns hidden around or bad electrics, they would smell of fish not toffee feet.

I have sprayed the mattress with vinegar, and put vinegar over the radiator tonight as I have been told that may help, I’ll report back tomorrow.

Thank you 🙏🏼

I can’t help but you’ve reminded me of the time that I accused my husband of stinking up the house with his awful old trainers. I made him put them outside at night and was very mean about it! Turned out to be a dead rat stuck in the wall.

This remind me about my university flat, it smelled of lamb stew all the time. Over Christmas we left every single window opened and disappeared for two weeks.

The smell was still there when we moved out at the end of the year.

Feeling sick

Leaving bowls of white vinegar around is brilliant at getting rid of cigarette smells, not sure about neutralising other smells, but worth a try.

I used it in my Dad's flat when he died - initially the smell made me heave whenever I went in, but the vinegar was magic, and we sold the flat really quickly once stuff was cleared - no hint of iffy smells.

Hi OP

in case it is anything mould / spore related, this stuff is incredible:

https://astonish.co.uk/products/mould-mildew-blaster

and only a couple of quid.

just read the post above mine - maybe white vinegar is a close relative of Lidl bargain basement vodka 😂

Vodka works as an odour neutraliser apparently (spraying it on stuff, not drinking it... Although I guess if you drank a lot you might not notice the smell any more).

I used one of these Amazon Ona Block to get rid of the smell of stale smoke in the bedroom of my last rental house. It was foul and nothing else would get rid of it, so it might be worth a try.