Why does my house smell like a cross between vomit, stinky cheese and bad breath?

[Anonnynonny]

And no, it's not because I've just had a party with the local branch of halitosis anonymous.

And I've cleaned the draining thing of the fridge - you know, the bit that water drains into. However, it did stink, and it may have been the source of the smell, but I'd have thought it would stop stinking once I'd cleaned it out.

I've cleaned everything and everywhere but still my house smells.

Back tomorrow to see if anyone has any ideas. Good night.

Bleach down the sink hole?

Oh our house smelled like that till I investigated dd's room and found a damp mouldy towel behind the door.

has anyone spilled milk on anything?

Do you need to give it a thorough airing?

Bicarb the carpet.

Last week my downstairs was smelling rancid. It turned out to be a potato that had gone off and liquified at the bottom of the bag.

Do you have a cat? Might it have brought in a little furry snack and left it to die somewhere inaccessible?

Shoes. we have shoes by the front door (nowhere else to put them) so I think that's why it whiffs as we walk in :(

We had a putrid potato that had liquified too. I never knew a potato could make such a horrendous smell.

Burning a scented while you are still trying to locate the source can help with the smell.

it's usually DH's running shoes in our case. I have to put them outside.

You're going have to get down and crawl to find it. It'll be something innocent looking though if not a dead mouse.

OMG just come in and it stinks

OP, is there any chance you could have a rat problem, if one has died under the floor in this warm weather the smell would be pretty grim.

I thought about that but then I thought if I did, there would be lots of flies, wouldn't there?

The other thing I think it might be is my fridge. Although I cleaned the drainer bit, the smell in it was evil and I think maybe it's broken, but would this be the result? I don't want to buy a new fridge if it's not because of that.

The strangest things smell - have you anything in the sunshine? A newspaper left in a sunny window can smell after a while. Also check house plants/herbs. Compost bin? My worst one was a piece of bread at the back of a cupboard. If you can't localise the smell - get a friend round to help. A fridge should be cleanable - bicarbonate of soda helps deodorise. Good luck hunting

It'll be animals. Does it smell like rubbish? In our case it was rats. Dead one under fridge. Any evidence? Any poo. Pull out fridge, washing machine etc.

Milk spilled on a carpet would be my guess.

I've read about some particular part of the fridge being responsible for such a smell. On here I think. Do a Mumsnet advanced search.

we had this once when I was little. It turned out to be the plug socket behind the washing machine, it was melting slowly and the plastic was giving off the most revolting smell.

Check your light fittings! In our old house the old bacolite screw bit that holds the lamp shades on stank like fishy old school glue when they got hot!!

Wow the most odd things stink - would never have thought of light fittings.

I think I might have tracked it down - even though I pulled out fridge and cleaned the draining tray 2 days ago, it's filled up again and more evil than ever.

Cleaned it all with white vinegar and bicarb of soda, but, may be the fact that it did this within 48 hours after cleaning means it's broken.

Is there a drip tray at the back of the fridge? I had this problem, milk had leaked and I think was in the drip tray but could not move the fridge to find out. It was a truly hideous smell, thankfully went way by itself after a couple of weeks.

Yes, I've now cleaned the drip tray 3 times. I think it is from there. Smell is unbelievable. Have now turned fridge off for a bit

Right, update on my stinky house. It no longer stinks!

So just in case anyone else has this problem in the future here's the solution:

If it's the fridge and you've cleaned the drip tray already, and cleaned the fridge thoroughly, what you have to do is pour down the drainage bit (from inside the fridge) an eggcup full of bicarbonate of soda mixed with water. Miracle stuff.

Excellent. Good to know.

Glad you got to the bottom of it. I was going to say dead thing. That was the problem in our old flat, dead mouse under floor in the hall.