There is a strong moth ball type smell coming from somewhere in the house. It is strongest in the back bedroom, and in the kitchen immediately below the bedroom, but can also be smelt in the bathroom next to the bedroom, and increasingly throughout the house. It seems to be strongest in the kitchen where the hot water pipes go up through the ceiling, and in the kitchen cupboard that the pipes pass behind, and in the wooden box skirting board type thing in the bedroom which I assume is where the pipes come through the ceiling. There is a crack in the box/ skirting board where the smell is very strong.
I am not at all practical and I don’t even know where to start with this, because I don’t know what it is. Should I call a plumber? I have Googled, and found people with a similar issue but in no case did they get an answer as to what it was! Could it be mould? It really does smell of moth balls. We have lived here 11 years though so is unlikely to actually be mothballs. It is a Victorian house and is getting a bit rickety, cracks and so on. It might not be the pipes, it’s just that seems to be where the smell is strongest.