AIBU to ask how on earth to get rid of the previous owners smell from my house?!

[Movinginthesunlight]

We have recently bought and moved into a new house. The previous owners lived there for 2 or 3 decades and there is a strong smell that they have left behind, particularly the main bedroom. I cannot describe the smell other than it isnt dreadful, but it is not pleasant. The smell is sticking to all of our clothes and I can smell it all day on myself outside of the house. It is in my handbag, everywhere.

We have used a few different products on the carpets to clean them. I have machine cleaned them all multiple times, the smell is masked a little bit for a few days and then it is back full force.

I have different types of smellies everywhere, but I need the smell to be removed and not just masked slightly or mixed in with the horrid smell.

What else can be done to clear the smell?

I wonder why it is particularly the main bedroom that smells too.

I am not being paranoid, DH and others can smell it too.

The windows are and have been open since we moved in. I imagine the smell is in the carpet, there must be something else that can be done to break it up, can carpet cleaning is not working!

Pull it up? Over decades there will have been untold spills, bodily fluids and other products that will be deeply ingrained into the soft furnishings.

You need to paint the walls and possibly change the carpet too. Some smells will linger no matter how much cleaning you do, and you will be 'looking' for the smell even when others don't notice it. Both physically and emotionally a complete change is probably the best option.

I would rip the bedroom carpet out and go from there. Buy a £40 rug from dunelm or similar to put over the floorboards. If that doesn’t help, rip up the other carpets until it’s eliminated.

I definitely could not be living with a weird smell.

Have you tried washing the walls with that sugar soap stuff?

Can you sugar soap and repaint the walls and ceiling? Replace the carpets? Replace the curtains or blinds? If the smell has permeated the carpet underlay or is in the wallpaper etc then best to replace.

I was afraid people would say to rip the carpet up. I think that is the only option! Just such a faff when there are a million and one other jobs to do.

We will be painting very soon.

How do people smell so weird!

All the curtains and blinds are our own. It is the carpet that honks.

Will try sugar soap on the walls, we do have that. I have cleaned the walls but with disinfectant spray and wipes.

My house had blinds in every room which smelt of BO every time they got hot in the sun

Can you repaint? That would probably help as well as getting rid of the carpet

Get rid of any carpets and curtains they left behind if you want the smell gone. I wouldn't have moved in without the carpets being removed.

Sorry, cross post about the blinds!

Sorry I guess you don't want to resort to it but I think you need to pull up the carpets and re-paint the walls. If you need to save up to buy new carpet or put down alternative flooring you can put down a big rug - John lewis 'everyday' do some mega cheap ones, or Ikea, or rugvista online have some really affordable ones.

It's just the only way unfortunately.

Also assume you've changed the curtains?

RIP the carpet up
The woman I bought my house off was a bloody scruff, and after about 3 weeks i realised it was my only option!

Highly recommend an ozone machine. You can buy them from amazon. Empty the room of all living things including plants. Close the windows. Run the ozone cycle and don't enter the room until well after it's completed and then open the windows. Try to not breathe the ozone in (i hold my breath when opening the windows).
Works very well for smells such as lingering vape odour.

yeah carpet needs ripping out. You can even just paint the floors for an interim solution if you need to save up for new ones - moving is such an expensive time.

If there have been spills and things over the years they'll have penetrated right in, even to the underlay, so no amount of cleaning will get the smell out.

I think you will have to get rid of the carpets unfortunately!

The problem with smells is you can’t really cover them up, you have to eliminate them. Sometimes by getting rid of the offending item.

Covering up smells only makes them worse as then they mingle with the artificial scent that’s been added.

Summer time you can cope without carpets so pull them up ASAP. You'll want them down again in time for winter though!
Same for curtains.
It will be the soft furnishings holding the odour.

There is nothing worse than random smells, it could be the underlay breaking down rather than the carpet.
We bought a new wardrobe once and it gave off a really weird smell, it actually made our dog howl all night. We ended up putting it in the garage for a few weeks and the smell eventually went away.

I went to a lecture this week at Cheltenham Science Week by Ben Giles called "How to Clean a Crime Scene" and he basically said never use carpet - whatever falls on it can never truly be removed.

So, as others have said, pull the carpet up.

Carpets. They're disgusting when someone else's and no amount of cleaning will work on old ones.. Bought a project house and one of the first things we did was pull up the carpet throughout the house. The smell's gone. It was awful! But carpet that's been down for over 20 years would be.

... then paint.

Christ!

It took us years to get the smell out of our house, we pulled all the carpets and wallpapers down and mopped walls/floors/ceilings with bleach about 5 times, repainted and carpeted. It still smelled of the old owners when it rained heavily, for 3 or 4 years 🤣 all good now though 😁

The carpets arent 20 years old. There not new, but in decent nick with no worn areas at all. Its just i suppose they gave off a very strong smell.

The house wasnt dirty at all to look at. Its just everyone has their own smell. And some are a lot more potential than others. Ive lived in countless rentals and never had this before.

I actually ordered one of these a short while ago, it is arriving today or tomorrow. This is the last chance, should this not work the carpet is being pulled up from the bedroom!

Where the hell was the smell coming from !