Removing the smell of the last owners of the house

[LePetitMaman]

I know that's not a great title. I just don't know what else to call it.

(It's the similar smell that you get in charity shops, sort of mothbally, and my friend owns a nursing home - it's that smell.)

We are looking to buy a house and the previous owners smell is in there. It's really really strong and you can't live with it. From looking online and researching, it appears it stems from a chemical our skin produces as we reach a certain age, and that's what then permeates everything. There must be more to it than just being "old" so to speak as my nan is nearly 90 and her house doesn't smell at all. However some other relatives in their 80s, have the exact same smell in their house, probably even stronger than the house we're looking at.

Has anyone successfully got rid of this smell without ripping everything out of the house? We'd be replacing a lot of stuff, but it would be nice not to have to replace everything. Online research suggests airing the property isn't enough. Does anyone have direct experience of removing this smell?

Nonenal is the substance creating the smell. It does linger in soft furnishings. Our last house had that smell when we moved in . We lifted all carpets, binned curtains and actually replaced built in wardrobes.

As DH & I get older, I am paranoid about it. Constantly washing linens, hard flooring etc. 🤦🏻‍♀️My parents house had this odour , worse after mum died. It is a fact of aging.

Have had similar twice now with houses I moved into!

I would say to assume (worst case most likely scenario) it will be: all new carpets, new paint of everything (especially woodwork), you may find when you strip wallpaper off that some new plastering needed too, airing constantly and clean clean clean 100 times more than you think you'll need to and in every crevice lol...
Obviously all the usual Disinfectant and strong smelling scent things may help as you go along to make it more bearable

The smell will go and be replaced eventually by your own smells (which obvs won't bother you!)

Depends if you want to do all the above I guess?

Persimmon soap removes this smell. Buy some and grate it for use on the house. Add a bit of dettol and bicarbonate. Wash the walls in the toilets. Rip out the carpets. But I think it’s mainly in the beds and sofas, and will go when they do. Our house smelt of cigarettes, beer and chip fat. Much worse!

I will add to, I've really seen the value of having a decent professional cleaner come in and do a blitz a few times a month apart once I've done all the above... a good cleaner is magical

I visit an elderly relative every week and her house smells perfectly pleasant as does she so it’s not inevitable.

I know what you mean OP. It's really tought to deal with.

I also refurbish clarinets and they can have a terrible smell if mould has got into the wood or metal. If it's mould then dettol mould and mildew remover is good, but I have to leave it on clarinets overnight to make the mould go away and then we're stuck with the dettol smell.

There is also dettol laundry liquid which definitely takes the old person smell out of clothes, so might work on walls and floors. I've not tried it though.

Definitely changing all the carpets would be my first step

I also think it depends on the type of furnishings as well, my friend has moved into a sixties bungalow and has filled it with genuine mid century furniture, the house smells like a charity shop, it’s really unpleasant and I don’t think it will ever go as it’s ingrained in the furniture, she seems immune to the smell.

Ventilate will help, and once you have re-painted and move new furnishings in the smell will dissipate.

From google
Nonenal odor is a distinct smell associated with aging, often described as musty or greasy. It is primarily caused by the breakdown of certain fatty acids in the skin as people age, particularly the compound 2-nonenal, which becomes more prevalent after the age of 40.

after the age of 40. !!

Our house didn't smell clean until we replaced the carpets.

There was an old lady living here previously, whose husband had been unwell for several years and then died, and they had a little dog that I imagine didn't get walked.

On a warm day, the house would smell of warm wee!

I had this issue for months... Cleaning doesn't work. Changed carpets, underlay, hard wood floors, repainted, removed wallpaper, and only then it went away. I hated it and the place felt so alien and old and I missed my old place like hell. Months on, new extension, new kit hen, we marked our territory, smells like us now 😂 (not necessarily better with cat, two kids, but us nevertheless ) good luck.

Sounds like you have a mould and damp issue to me rather than just a couple of 80 year olds who appear to have been so smelly that their stench is in the very structure of the building

We had this in our present house. I call it old ladies' wardrobe smell. We got rid of the carpets and curtains and redecorated and it went away.

We only got rid of the pong by getting rid of the carpets, blinds, curtains, mopping the floorboards and redecorating

Ps, it had permeated floorboards actually. But once new undelay and carpet was down it was better. Didn't help that all windows were painted shut. Seriously, change everything your budget allows you to.

I know what you mean, OP, but I'm feeling sad that along with all the other indignities of old age, there's an unpleasant smell to worry about!

We'll be doing all of this...just not all in the first 6 weeks.

How annoying, half the house is going to stink horrendously until we've replaced pretty much everything

Our house stank when we bought it. We mopped the wooden floors, replaced all the carpets and painted the walls = smell gone.

I think replacing the carpets made the biggest difference

Never come across this smell, but when we've viewed houses the doggy ones were often like this, as if the stench was in the walls, floors as well as the soft furnishings. It did really put us off a couple of otherwise nice houses. I remember driving home with all the car windows open as the stink was clinging to our clothes after 10 minutes there.

We have done the same, and it was the only thing that worked.

My DD bought a house from an elderly couple that smelled like this - warm wee sums it up very well. Two years on and the smell has largely gone - lots of open windows, stripping out of curtains and carpets (although not all, she couldn't afford to replace the stair and landing carpet so that has stayed) and cleaning. Fresh air seems to help, once the things that the smell has really sunk into (like curtains, honestly that house had SO MANY CURTAINS!) had gone. Fortunately it's in a quiet area and she works from home so could leave windows open and it seemed like cold winter air did the best, maybe it killed off any bacteria that lingered.

Our house was like this when we moved in, plus the smell of cat. Getting rid of carpets, curtains, reboarding all the walls (the plaster was totally blown), replacing windows, replacing the bathroom, and removing the woodworm riddled floorboards and joists later and it's nearly gone. The kitchen is due to be demolished and replaced soon, as it's falling down, and that will be the last of the old stinky house.

Sadly though, the teens are determined not to open windows and leave their rooms full of worn clothes that is creating its own problem. At least we now have easy clean surfaces and it can be freshened up easily, but I do worry about lingering odours.

When you first enter the house after being away for a week or so is the truest test of how your house smells. It was very much 'old cat lady'. Now it's much better but still a bit something. I'm hoping replacing the kitchen is the answer.

Check the roofspace/attic. We renovated PIL house two years ago, prior there was always this smell even though I would have cleaned thoroughly for my elderly widowed MIL as she wasnt fit to look after it.
when we stripped everything back, full renovation, i could still smell this smell. Turns out there had been a rat in the roofspace at some stage and wasnt properly insulated anyway. What was there we stripped out and re-insulated, smell gone.

It just needs a deep clean.

Ageism is shitty but don’t worry you can turn it around and anyone who complains about it can be sneered at.

Also don’t worry because the ‘smell of old person’ will soon be replaced by something a lot worse - the smell of ‘you.’

‘You’ can’t smell it but the next people will and will probably write here complaining about their stinky new house.

There you go - a prejudice shared is a prejudice solved 😇