Disgusting smell plaguing my house

[Orangelover]

Pretty much as it says on the tin!

A couple of weeks ago me and OH noticed a disgusting smell in our kitchen that pretty much smelt like gone off, sour milk rotting somewhere

We assumed that it was either the fridge - which I cleaned out and disinfected and found no obvious source of odour, or the bin - emptied and zoflora'd the whole thing. Smell still there...

Cleaned the kitchen whole kitchen and downstairs to within an inch of its' life (Which has been done multiple times in the last few weeks anyway as we've just sold the house!), had everything out of all of my cupboards. The smell still lingered!

The kitchen is all integrated, so OH has took the bottom panel out and we've looked underneath all of the cupboards to no avail. The smell just continues to waft throughout the kitchen diner.

The downstairs is reasonably open plan so I then moved onto the living room - done a full clean of the carpets and sofa. Pulled sofa out - nothing underneath. Had doors and windows open throughout constantly to air anything out.

I feel like I've pretty much tried everything to locate the disgusting smell. It even seems to be evolving into a drainy smell! I've mr muscled all the sinks just incase but I'm really at a loss now with what else to try. I'm very conscious that we'll be moving house in a few weeks and I really don't want the nice lady who's buying it to be stuck with this revolting stench that I can not source! I'm pretty good at maintaining my cleaning standards so this is greatly upsetting me without trying to be too dramatic!

Anyone had similar? Is there anything glaringly obvious that I have overlooked in my quest to rid myself of this pungent pergatory

Dead rat under the floorboards?

Do you have a sink or shower or bath that's not used much? Sometimes, the water in the trap can dry out, so smells from the outside drains waft in.

Next thing to check, pour a kettle full of hot water down your sink, then after a minute, lean near the plughole and see if that's your source of smell. If so, it's gunk in the pipes under your sink, drain unblocker should shift it.

Outside drain blocked? That can release a fowl smell back up through the sink!

We've had this - it's the oven gloves.

I'd just washed them - there is something in the washing process that makes them smell like they are made of rancid potato peel. I bought some more, and after a while the same thing happened - then I bought some more and read the labels of all the ones in Asda and they all said "only wash once" - so it's deliberate/known.

We had this in our front room- absolutely foul. DH is in the building trade and knows about these things. Nearby building work meant more mice seen in the local area-he says it was one that had died in the walls (old house where access is easier, I suppose). It was disgusting but went after about 2 weeks. HTH.

OMG yes! I had it around 2 weeks ago. I never found out what it was. It lasted about 5 days and it was rancid. Exactly like gone off milk. It was in my kitchen near my fridge so I pulled it out and cleaned under it, cleaned inside the fridge, cleaned the floor I cleaned absolutely everything. Then it went as mysteriously as it arrived.

Check your eggs don't float - I had a duff egg stunk the house out, a rotten smell.

We get this occasionally, when you get a dead mouse in a cavity wall - absolutely nothing you can do except wait it out and plenty of fresh air!

This is grim but, if you have elderly/single neighbours, find a way to discreetly check in on them. Someone I know had a drain smell that got worse and yeah... You can guess what it ended up being

I second the eggs comment. The stench permeates through the shell. If you leave them too long they may well explode. Worst smell ever so definitely check any eggs in the house.

Have you painted? We’ve used some white emulsion (can’t remember the brand) and it absolutely stunk of dead fish. Took me a while to realise it was the paint!

This is grim but, if you have elderly/single neighbours, find a way to discreetly check in on them. Someone I know had a drain smell that got worse and yeah... You can guess what it ended up being

😳😳😳

I'd nearly be certain it's a dead rodent, or, worse, an infestation, in the cavity walls perhaps. You may not see any evidence or hear them initially.

We had this 🤢 it took a while to figure it out, I nearly lost my life when I realised it. Professionals called in, sorted very rapidly.

Check for a handbag with an old satsuma in it. It happened to me!

My money would still be on the fridge. We've had this and it was the drip tray in the fridge.

I agree with PP that it's likely to be the drip tray at the back of the fridge.

Had a very similar experience recently - horrifically unpleasant smell for weeks that wouldn't go despite deep cleaning everything and everywhere many times. Almost made the kitchen unusable.

I googled possible causes as a last resort and then looked at cleaning drip tray videos on you tube as I didn't know where to find it or how to tackle it. My ex and I dragged the fridge out one night - had to unscrew a bit of the back - and out came the tray which was full of what looked like vomit (sorry!) and smelled even worse. It was chokingly bad. Like decaying matter but not a dead mouse smell

Once cleaned completely the smell went. Such a relief!

We've had this two summers in a row and are sure it was a dead rodent under the floor. We'd had some scratching then it stopped and the smell and flies came shortly after. The second time was when it was very hot last year so whatever it was decomposed much quicker which was awful but at least it was gone quicker.

We can't find where they're getting under there and it's fucking gross. It made me want to move out.

I had an awful stink back in April. After many nights of boiling water, caustic soda, bleech down the sink to no avail i got serous. Pulled kickboard off to get to pipes, cleaned the u bend. Still didn't get rid of it.
Then I noticed that the coffee machine (gusto) had a cartridge in it. (I don't use it) my husband had left the last one in and it was milk based from a cappuccino about 2 weeks earlier. OMG, absolutely rank. I did end up with sparkly pipes and he ended up with sore ears from my moaning about it.

Sometimes I get this in my kitchen and it is food trapped in the sink u bends. You can take them off and clean them or one of them drain unlocking and deodarising products normally does the trick.

Check the back of the fridge (outside where the grill thing is). If a dead mouse is on there the heat will make a stench like no other 😁

Have you wiped the underneath edge of your kitchen worktops where there's an overhang?
Is your washing machine in the kitchen? If it is run a cleaning programme/run a boil wash with vinegar.
Another cause could be a dead bird in a chimney breast.

We had a god awful smell that kept recurring and eventually it was traced to the main drain outside that had backed up and was blocked with some idiot putting wipes down (flats and we are main ground floor) Council came out and cleared it, was not pleasant sight 🤮🤢

Potatoes in the veg rack. Vile. Ask me how I know 🤮

If the smell is disgusting like no other you have ever smelt, wakes you up at night & makes you want to gag then it will be a dead rodent somewhere in the floors or walls. Have you had any flies lately? They start visiting towards the end of the decomposition.

We have 2 dead mice in the panelling of the our oven. It took a repair man to find them.

If it wafts worse waves of stink from time to time I’d put money on it being a dead mouse. We had one in our Christmas tree 🤢