Rental property smell

[Raisins18]

Hello

We took over a rental property at the end of December. It had had a "deep clean" and had a strong smell of cleaning products, air freshener and what can only be described as "shake'n'vac" smell.
A month and a half later and it is as strong as day 1. We cannot find a source for the smell. We have had all the carpets steam cleaned again (at our cost), and have spoken to the guy who did the initial "deep clean" and he said he only used plain water to steam the carpets.

I have been having migraines and severe asthma attacks every time I've spent more than 30 minutes in the property, meaning that I've had to stay elsewhere, whilst DP has been there with all the doors and windows open, hoovered the place umpteen times, washed down all the paintwork....but still it's just as strong.
Can anyone suggest what could possibly be the source of such a smell? It's a "pleasant" smell but obviously the chemicals behind it are not agreeing with me at all.
All I can imagine is that the cleaner spilt a whole bottle of some very strong cleaner and it was impregnated the floorboards....
It's like walking into a room full of Glade plug-ins...yet there are none at all. I can taste it in my mouth. My kids hair even smells of it!
Suggestions??

Is it in one room or everywhere? Are you in a flat and is it possible the smell is coming from the flat below you?

plug in air fresheners. we found one in the kitchen behind the kickboard and in other interesting places.
are you airing the place regularly?

It smells most strongly near the front door, but can be smelt all around the house, except in the bathroom and toilet, which aren't carpeted...which is why we initially suspected the carpet. There are no plug ins anywhere. The kitchen is beside the front door, but the smell isn't strong in the kitchen at all. We thought maybe there were some air fresheners melting behind the radiators, but no. Checked all of them. It's a small house, not a flat.

We didn't look for hidden plug ins. It was a completely emty property and all (visible) sockets were empty. If anything IS hidden then it's hidden VERY well.

Have you tried washing down the radiators? In case they did the ‘wipe your radiators with Zoflora to make the house smell nice’ trick and overdid it?

Can you try shake and vac with bicarbonate of soda?

Yep, we washed down the radiators. The walls smell of whatever it is. Our clothes smell of it even though we're rarely in there. My children smell of it. It's still circulating in the air, whatever it is. It does smell less bad with the heating off, but the radiators themselves don't seem to be emitting any smell. It's crazy that it's still so strong after 6 weeks. I'm beginning to think someone's emptying a spray can of air freshener through the letterbox every morning. Maybe the previous tenant has a horrible ex?!

at this time of year I expect the doors and windows are mostly closed so the odour will accumulate. When fear of frost has passed, open the loft hatch and you will get a strong airflow rising up through the house (especially on sunny days or if the heating is on) even when the windows are shut. You can leave it open even when you lock the house up (this is also a way to prevent a house getting unbearably hot in summer)

Have you lifted the carpet up at all?

Bicarbonate and air is all you can do. Bicarbonate applied liberally to the carpetsand then use a bicarbonate solution to clean the front door, rads, skirting-anything you can. And keep windows open as much as you can.

Sounds awful.

unless you use a vac with a Hepa filter, tiny particles (probably including this scented stuff) blow out of the exhaust of a vac and will probably just get redistributed inside the house.

I use an electrostatic air purifier (with fan and filter) when troubled by fine particles.

Sometimes it helps to mist-spray (garden sprayer, pure soft water and a drop of WUL) and odours seem to go as the fabric dries out. Best done in fresh air and sun. It seems to work with dog and tobacco smells.

My DS suffers from chemicals and we wash everything with bicarb and vinegar which seems to neutralise chemical smells. . usually plastic toys and we leave bowls of vinegar around too. PM me if you want some other advice as to what you can do reduce the severity of your reactions. ..

NoStraightEdges no, we haven't. We have sniffed the carpet but there's no obvious smell coming from it. Don't want to damage the carpet by pulling it up.

PigletJohn my DP sat for 2 whole days in there with back and front doors open after we had the carpets re-steamed. The smell in the livingroom is slightly weaker, but strong as ever in the hall and near the front door. We had an air filter running beside the door for a day and no difference at all. It's as if the smell is renewing. We just can't work out where from. I don't know if there are floorboards or concrete floor. If the cleaner had spilt an entire bottle of liquid cleaner on the carpet and it sank through to the underlay , would it eventually stop stinking?

It's probably just "new house smell". It took a good year before the house we live in stopped smelling "funny". I still get the occasional whiff now when coming into the house and we've been here three and a half years now. You're just not used to the smell. Air the house thoroughly every single day and it will fade eventually.

I’d try an ioniser like this one.

We moved into a rental that smelt foul - a mixture of rancid fat and cigarette smoke that was soaked into plaster, woodwork, doors etc. It made a huge difference - and we were massively sceptical. Wiping down everything with a mixture of white wine vinegar and lemon juice also helped.

I would look everywhere -inside and on top of any built in cupboards, etc for something emitting the smell. The good news about any plugged in or wired in air fresheners is that they will run out in time, but six weeks is a long time so it may be something else. If the previous occupants had a dog, for example, they may have constantly used air fresheners and the smell does cling to everything.

I’d open as many windows as possible every day for a decent length of time - I know that is not easy in winter, wash all the curtains and try washing the walls down with sugar soap, which shouldn’t damage anything but is great at removing dirt and smells - it doesn’t smell itself.

Btw I don’t think the smell is the result of a spillage, I think it is far more likely to be from prolonged use of air fresheners of some sort. Remove and clean all of the lightbulbs too because anything on them will heat up and smell again when they are switched on.

Spider plants are good at soaking up chemical smells. It sounds a bit woo but by this point you may well be willing to give anything a go!

I used/ recommended them in the past to get rid of paint smells and at one point the horrible (to me anyway) smell of glue used to stick down the carpet in my office. They could be worth a try along with the bicarbonate of soda.