Really vile smell in new house

[Nc58985]

We moved into a new house yesterday and at the end of the day noticed a really vile fishy smell in the downstairs toilet (one sink, one toilet, fan, no window).

Called an emergency electrician out as we were worried it was an electrical fault / burning wires etc. but he checked out all the electrics in the bathroom and ground floor and said it was all fine and no burning.

Any ideas what could be causing the smell?!

We chucked soda crystals down the plugs last week when we got the keys. But maybe it is a drainage issue.

Help!

Stick the plug in and run a full bowl of hot water. Let it drain down, leave it for a while and then go back and see if the smell is gone (leave a window or the door open to let it air).
If you can still smell it, the overflow would be my next suspect. Give it a good go with spray bleach.
If that still doesn't help and the toilet flushes normally, then the next thing would be to look at the floor.

Could it be that someone had a habit of peeing on the floor round the toilet bowl?

I'd give the floors and skirting round the base of the toilet a really good scrub with bleach.

When I had that it was due to a burnt wire in the switch for the shower. Also had similar before and was some potatoes left in a cupboard

Could it be silicone that has been put round the bath, that can have a fishy smell?

It's a dead mouse or rat, probably under the kitchen kickboards.

Very distinctive! Once smelt, never forgotten.

Just seen this is in the bathroom - under the bath or behind the sink then. Failing that, the floorboards. No need to rip everything apart, just leave it and it will dessicate naturally within a couple of weeks.

a decaying mouse (thanks cat) always smells sweet ish to me..
i have heard that some types of paint smell terrible when new on the walls Valspar ?

Thanks so much everyone - I’ll definitely try all of these suggestions. I feel too embarrassed to have anyone round until I sort it out!

@MissWired I thought something dead too 😭

@tootiredtobother sadly don’t think the house has been painted in years! It’s on our to-do list

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime I second this! Stale piss / urinals always have a fishy smell

I'm with dead animal somewhere

Blocked drain? We had issues recently with the pipe between our houses being blocked but the smell only affected our house & next door. It was sorted quite quickly but it did stink.

I get a really bad smell coming through the extractor vent- I know for a fact it’s next doors waste water pipe discharging on an inappropriate place. I’ve reported it to the council

This happened us moved into a new build in March turned out the burning smell was the lights and the developers had put cheap bulbs in all sockets that were too high a wattage swapped bulbs out and all good

I think probably a dead animal but if the smell doesn’t decrease within a few weeks, you may need a plumber

Were you at all difficult during the move? If so, prawns hidden somewhere...

Was about to suggest something similar!

We had a weird smell we managed to pin down to an ikea lampshade where the bulb was the wrong wattage so heating the glue that held it together, smelt like copydex.

We moved into a new build in March and had this issue. Turned out developers had fitted cheap bulbs with too high a wattage and the smell was the burning. Might be worth changing bulb and checking if that makes a difference

We had a vile smell like that when we had a new bathroom installed last year - it took months to go away, and I reckon it might have been the sealant they'd used.

Make sure all the ubends in all the sinks, toilets and washing machine are full of water. If the house has been empty for a bit, they can dry out and the sewage smell can come up from the drains. If you have a floor drain anywhere, do that one too

How do you check this? Apologies for my ignorance.

Check the toilet tank. Might need a clean.

Lots of adhesives can smell quite fishy. New laminate or anything like that?

Or....

if you've been a twat during the move then it's probably prawns behind the bath facing or in the extractor.

@eurochick @Tinkletwat @pastabest I think we were pretty good all things considered!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I’m currently masking the smell with a Reed diffuser but will be donning some rubber gloves tomorrow to dig around a bit.

I do fear it may be a dead mouse as we found mouse droppings next door in the kitchen today when we moved the fridge.

Other than that I would think drainage maybe as we’ve had the electrics checked and there’s been no decorating or recent work done in there.

If it is drainage spirit of salt will clear it immediately (spoken from a homeowner with the worst drainage systems in place). Definitely worth a shot. I buy ours from Amazon in six packs but be caredpful because it will tarnish any steel etc.

@Fedupsequin Thanks for the tip! I’d never heard of Spirit of Salts before but just Googled it. Looks powerful.