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!

Agree with PPs, painting the walls should help but it is likely going to be fixed by replacing the carpets.

When we bought we ripped up all the carpets and vinyl, treated all the floorboards with enzymatic cleaner and then got new flooring. The previous owners have dogs and appeared to have an issue with aim in the toilet/bathroom so everything was ripped up and treated. Soft furnishings will always retain smells unfortunately, and you might as well treat the floorboards while you have the carpets up.

Sorry OP but getting rid of carpet and underlay and any other soft furnishings plus repainting is the only way

Similarly, when we moved into our house, some of our kitchen storage was essentially dictated by the preferences of the previous owners, because there was one cupboard that smelled really strongly of spices and another one that smelled of vinegar. No amount of cleaning made a difference; I just had to keep my own spices in their inconveniently located spice cupboard until we had the kitchen replaced.

Presumably if we ever move the new owners will think the same thing about the cupboard where I keep my spices now.

Is it a ‘nonenal’ smell? Like an old man / unwashed hair / oily hormone (sorry) kind of thing?

It’s basically lipid based so you’re probably not actually removing it. Aside from getting rid of carpets try enzymatic cleaners and persimmon based soaps - google it - nonenal - there’s quite a bit on how to get rid of it, but it’s hard.

We had this issue. Luckily we were mid-reno so were always going to lift the carpet. When we did, there was a piss stain 1 metre x 1 metre, where the previous owners divan had been situated. The builders said to lift and replace the floorboards too. Urgh.

Have you tried bicarbonate of soda which is famously good for getting rid of smells? Proper soda water is the same.

Sprinkle the carpet liberally with bicarb and brush it in lightly so it gets down and in the fibres. Leave it for at least 30 minutes or longer if practical (overnight).

Then vacuum it up. You will need to vacuum very throughly with a strong suction setting - going over each part in multiple directions to move the fibres this way and that.

If you do it properly and thoroughly it really works.

Zinsser do a smell eliminating primer - use it before repainting. Only thing that got rid of the baked into the walls fag smell in our new house after we took up carpets and got rid of soft furnishings. Smells can literally leach onto the walls and damp/hot temps etc can bring them out again, so a primer really helps.

It will be the underlay, especially since you've said you have thoroughly cleaned the carpets. They can't dry properly so they become mouldy and start disintegrating.

A friend had the same issue and hired a carpet cleaner machine.

You could try getting a rug doctor or similar on the carpet with more than recommended shampoo to see if it shifts the smell. You've got nothing to lose really.

Agree In suggestions to sugar soap and repaint as well.

We're moving soon and replacing the stairs and bedroom carpets before moving in. I hadn't thought of treating the floorboards. How did you do it?

We bought something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemical-Trade-Store-Professional-Enzyme-Based/dp/B0F4DXNQR1/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=179ZG2NXNF9P1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kx1PSkQq6XPjVRzXvJSyFivqimb-I39mEXfFkNYrt3D-yIMUYuP7K8PWNkpc6jgR0oSD3hqgLFxB94XxJmo4bbWv-GP4kJ4gzi3Q0qfwUelXtJgYoAVXQ9g4i1YySaKFr_GcgKCePqlaCDm6v3GccE_ZNGZK-PmvpztxX9_prRm19tWvx4AywTeCRD4_5ihma4f_Bvr-z55r9qXBJBwOFg.HO9fmyuixPQU5UOFPH7XLQcbpCPdB1HoFG_KAyN2RA0&dib_tag=se&keywords=enzyme+cleaner+dog+urine+wood+floor&qid=1780586641&rdc=1&sprefix=enzyme+cleaner+dog+urine+floo%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-4

Also got one specifically for human urine for the bathroom - made up the solution and scrubbed it in using a broom then let it dry. Definitely worth doing!

How long was the body there for before being found, and at what time of year?

It’s possible that you might need to consider replacing the floorboards as well if it was warm and a long time.

We had a horrible sickly smell in our attic bedrooms when we moved in, eventually we found one of those awful scent diffuser bathroom things tucked in behind the hot water tank up there. Perhaps there's something like that tucked into the wardrobe somewhere, behind its skirting or on top?

I'm surprised that cleaning the carpets hasn't worked, what did you use? We have a big Bissel machine and you can get all sorts of different shampoos from them for different purposes. It does seem mad to have to replace the carpet before you want to.

We had to take up the carpets immediately when we bought our house. The previous owners had dogs and cats that were allowed to roam around the house feely. They had a laissez-faire attitude to cleaning in general. The carpets absolutely stank. We had 2.5 weeks left on our rental and we had to work ourselves to the bone to sort the house in time to move in. Ah the memories 🙃

My sympathies OP. The people we bought our house from smoked and it was awful. Luckily no carpets downstairs (they didn’t seem to smoke upstairs) but we had to sugar soap, stain coat and repaint every single wall. Replace curtains and blinds too if you can.

To be fair, it was a very stinky house, a smoker and something underlying that was just very weird smelling 😂 think it was in the walls 😅

Our house still smells wrong when it’s been shut up after coming back off holiday
I think it’s cavity wall insulation . We’ve been here 10 years

I had a professional carpet cleaner in to clean my carpets. It wasn’t as expensive as replacing - I used enviroclean. You will also need to paint the walls eventually because smells stay in the walls.

We had this when we moved in to our house 15 years ago, just a lingering odour that you wouldn't necessarily notice if you were just dropping in for a cup of tea.
We got rid of the curtains, carpets and had the walls painted within the first 6 months, which helped. But I think the real culprit was the kitchen. It needed a thorough degreasing, and it was the vents in the hob extractor fan that needed a thorough scrub. It was dripping in grease.
Occasionally now I come downstairs and smell 'that smell' again, and I know it's time to check the fan. I might just go and do it now actually...

I too think you have to remove the carpet, and also any underlay, then get down on your hands and knees and scrub the floorboards with a wire brush and very hot water dosed with disinfectant and and lavander essential oil. Then leave the windows open for 28 hours. That's what I did with a former student house I bought which had been inhabited by boys who urinated on the carpets when they'd had a skinful.

BTW why are you putting your own smells in the room? Isn't that going to make things worse?

Typo

I had the most awful smell that I could never get rid of. But new carpets will help as they can be pretty inexpensive

It's likely to be in the underlay as well as the carpet so cleaning the carpet will make little difference. We had the same in our house when we moved in, it had been rented out for years and the smell was just awful. We ended up just ripping it all up and living with bare floorboards for a couple of years as we decorated/renovated room by room.

Get rid of the carpet and scrub the floorboards. Ancient spills and leaks may still be embedded in them. Wash the walls, and paint them.