What, apart from smelly trainers, could be making my house smell like smelly trainers?

[HerculesMulligan]

It's like the low notes of a sweaty trainer smell. Not the high notes, thank god.

I can mainly smell it in our study. I've moved or chucked out any flowers, plants, shoes, oil diffusers etc, but I can still smell it. The smell definitely isn't upstairs, but I can occasionally smell it in the sitting room. DH can't smell it at all, but his sense of smell is rough.

What else could it be?

Have you tried sprinkling bicarb on the carpet, leaving it overnight then vacuuming it up?

I find carpets trap all kinds of odours and bicarb is a wonderful thing.

Shin pads! Are there any lurking in a drawer/cupboard? I had a similar problem and tracked it down to a mislaid pair of well-worn shin pads. Bleugh.

How old are your carpets?
I don’t have carpets in my house, but I can smell them when I visit friends (I always go: what’s that smell? then realise. And no, I don’t do it out loud 😂).

Shampoo the carpets?
have you got pets? Wash the beds?

Well I had the same dilemma last week and threw everyone's footwear in the washing machine because I couldn't track down the stink 🤢.
It didn't get rid of the rancid smell so I had to investigate 🤔.
Eventually I found a half block of green mouldy cheese in my daughters school coat pocket!!!
Apparently she put it in there as the dinner lady said she couldn't go out to play until her lunchbox was empty 😩.
Why anyone would want children is beyond me they are disgusting little creatures 😂🤣😂

Dead mouse?

Smelly mop

Damp? Could there be a leak somewhere?

Old books?

Probably the carpet.

Drains?

I had a horrible cabbagy smell in my house for a few days before we found the dead mouse the cat had kindly deposited (or chased) under the sofa.

Pull out fridge & check the overflow from inside fridge. The overflow is that little hole inside at back of fridge where moisture flows down into it.

The waste water in the waste water tray at external rear of fridge can get very smelly. Took me weeks to get my awful kitchen smell pin pointed to this.

Bare feet that have come out of smelly trainers and walking on your previously not smelly carpet?

If you have carpet then shampoo it, if not then damp or drains maybe?

IDK but following with interest as my car has developed this smell lately and I can't work it out at all. Have you checked under your sofa? Could it be the drains (or the overflow pipes) in your kitchen or bathroom?

Ah X post!

Could it be a damp or sweaty swimsuit, towel or sports kit or similar left and forgotten about in sports bag or carrier bag etc to fester.

We had this and it turned out to be a long forgotten hard boiled egg 🤢

Dead thing. Do you have a cat? We found a half mouse behind the radiator after a very, very long search.

Dead bird down the chimney?

I could smell the exact same smell today in my hallway and it wasn't coming from trainers either. I wondered if it was damp in the walls as it had been raining heavily.

Unwashed clothes hanging around because someone thinks they're not dirty yet?

Rooms not being aired daily?

As it's mainly the study and a bit in the living room, the personal hygiene or digestive situation of the person who most uses the study (sorry!)? The smell would be worse in a smaller room and they also probably spend more time in the study than the living room

An old potato? Although not similar to wet trainers / football boots.

A sock that's been wet from running outside in socksoles then removed when you are watching a film and can't be bothered to lift it but don't want to leave it because mum will nag you so you shove it under the sofa.....thanks ds

Have you painted the walls?
Valspar painted rooms smell in this heat. It's been awful this year due to high temperatures warming the house.

An office chair, if it’s got any sort of cushioning on it?

We had this and it was damp carpets in the front footwells because leaves had blown into the gap at the bottom of the windscreen/ top of the bonnet which meant that when it rained water was running into the car rather than out onto the floor.