What to do about this terrible smell

[JustAnotherDayWorkingAtHome]

We have the most terrible smell in our living room that started about 2 or 3 days ago. I think that something has died under the floorboards. We have had problems with rodents in the past and had some work done on our drains to prevent them getting back into the house. I haven't heard any noises to suggest they are back but the smell seems to suggest otherwise. I just don't know where to start though....there is no physical evidence other than the smell. No noises, no signs of entry....nothing. I rang the people who did the drains and they are adamant that it can't be the drains (we spent a lot of money having remedial work done to the drains). I rang rentokil and they won't come out just based on smell, they won't take up floorboards or anything like that.

I just don't know what to do as it really is unpleasant, aside from the fact that god knows what damage could be being done if there are rats getting in again.

Does anyone have any advice?

You could ring round tradespeople and see if someone will come lift the floorboards and investigate. Or you could lift a few yourself and get someone to come nail them back in place if you struggle to.

If something’s died under the floorboards you’d expect to see flies hanging around too. I speak from very unpleasant experience 🤮

So we have had flies @ThreePointOneFourOneFiveNine which is what is bothering me 😞

I am worried about taking them up and what I might find and then breaking the seal so to speak....

We have had this problem in the past. Unless you can pinpoint exactly where it is, then I'm afraid you just need to wait it out. We had something die in one of our walls, and we couldn't just cut open the walls to get it out, especially as we couldn't find exactly where it was. The smell gradually got less and less over a couple of weeks before disappearing.

We had this once, can only assume it was a gift from the cat, but we never did find it. Maybe book a holiday for a fortnight, it should have cleared when you get back!!

If an animal has died under your floorboards, you just need to sit it out. The smell won’t last long, especially as it sounds like it is rapidly decomposing!

I read once about someone in the same position. They just ‘sat it out’ until the smell subsided. I think their floors were particularly difficult to lift.

I did this once - unintentionally. Had a horrible smell in my home office. Looked everywhere (or so I thought) but couldn't find anything. Gradually the smell got less and less (i used an oil burner when I WFH to cover it up). About six months later I dropped something behind my chest of drawers, and found what used to be a bird. Just bones and feathers left. My cat must have caught it, brought it in and it had somehow ended at the back of my drawers.

I kept smelling something in our living room but my sense of smell is not good and I couldn’t pinpoint it. It went away after about three weeks on its own so I thought I’d imagined it

A couple of months later I pulled out the sofa to hoover underneath and there was a mummified mouse, with several fly egg case things (the things that maggots crawl out from) That was it then!

Joining the ‘found the mummified dead thing six months later’ club. It was a rat under a basket in the wardrobe.

You’ll have a lot of flies in about three weeks. But at least the smell will be gone.

Poor you! I would scan the whole room, look behind furniture, sofas and the lot. Before moving any floor boards.

Oh dear, that does not bode well. One thing I can say is that it will be gone in a few weeks. It will smell absolutely disgusting in the meantime, but if it’s something rat sized it will be gone quicker than you’d expect. You won’t be living with the smell forever.