Something stinks

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Pleeeaaaasseee help. I am at a total loss.

There has been a smell in my house for 2 or 3 weeks. It seemed to coincide with the building of our extension but having sealed the extension completely for a few days while we await the next phase, it seems to be in the open plan kitchen/dining room. The extension doesn't smell.

It's most like an ammonia type smell. We have a cat but she doesn't wee inside and I've tried a UV light to check. I can't find the source. It doesn't seem to be on or in anything. It's in the air almost.

I've deep cleaned everywhere at least 3 times using all sorts. I've tried zoflora, a thing from the pet shop which neutralises cat wee, plain old bleach solution.

It's getting worse and worse. I feel quite sick now. And ashamed. I can't let the DC have friends round. Can't have family round. I don't want to be in my house. It's like a wall of stench when I walk in.

Can you suggest anything at all? Something I might have missed?

I'm getting desperate.

It's possible a rodent (probably a rat, they stink for weeks) was inside one of the wall cavities, got trapped when it was sealed, and died.

If so, once it has decomposed, the smell should go.

No paint. The extension is only just plastered.

Would a single rodent be smelling so noxious and getting worse after 3 weeks? Enough to permeate a large room and make the whole place stink?

My vote is for a dead rat. We had one die under the floor boards last year and the smell was so bad I had to move out! I was pregnant at the time too and my morning sickness was horrendous.

We couldn't find it for months! Once we found it the smell still lingered for weeks. It was absolute hell!

If it's a rat, yes.

As PP said, the smell is absolutely disgusting.

Yes - they absolutely stink, our whole house smelt, at first the smell would come and go and we bought new washing machine and tumble dryer, had cameras put down the drain and still didn't know what it was.

Then after a few weeks the smell was there constantly and you couldn't avoid it!

Check for expired vitamins. We thought we had a dead rodent trapped.

Turned out to be expired vitamins in my sons room. As soon as we threw them out the smell cleared within 48 hours.

Suspect there was omega fish oil in them.

Our house is large but we knew when he opened his door as the smell spread everywhere. Even the Labrador would not go up there 😂😂😂

Yep a rotting rat can stink an entire house. To me they smell more like rotting cooked salmon. But, ime you can can pinpoint the general vicinity of the decomp - pinpoint it to a single room, down to a few feet as the smell gets stronger near the body.
ok, have you checked under kitchen kickboards and filler panels for rotting food?
any thing like dirty footwear left in a bag under the stairs - football boots etc?
check coat pockets for any old food/filled dog poo bags (yep that last one was me🤮)
checked shower drains aren’t somehow allowing sewer gas back in? Dry traps/dodgy plumbing etc? Everting draining as it should and things like the dishwasher discharging to drains and not backing up into the washing machine or sink trap?
has a kitchen caddy composting unit been left in emptied at the back of the kitchen cupboard?

It will definitely be a dead rat

Don’t forget it could be something under the kitchen units. Take off the plinths/kick boards and check under.

I second the fishy smell that comes from dodgy plugs.

I think there’s a business opportunity here for training dogs to zero in on smells.

Sounds like dead rodent smell to me... we're currently battling it too... does it get worse if you turn the heating up? Rentokill told me to whack the heating up and it will decompose quicker... last time that worked and the smell went after a couple of weeks

@Toomanysleepycats why not!! My cats can detect a leaking pipe in minutes, shame I wasn’t so quick to realise they could do this … cats 1 human 0.

I'm not sure about using zoflora around a cat, it's toxic to small animals, isn't it?

Have you recently painted? Some bags have got horrific ammonia smells if they have gone off. I speak from experience, it took sealant and three coats of a different brand paint to eradicate it. Google "smelly paint"..... it doesn't always smell terrible in the tin, but often starts getting wise once it's up.

As I said, we haven't painted.

No kick boards on the units right now (taken them up to fit flooring).

No vitamins.

I've emptied the cupboard under the stairs this weekend, scrubbed it and put everything back. Ditto every single cupboard in the kitchen.

No dog poo bags as no dog.

No backed up shower as the only shower is upstairs.

Where would the rat be? Floor is concrete. If it were behind a wall, would the smell not be stronger in certain areas?

Fridge has been put back and the dishwasher is next. I think we've then run out of places to check or clean.

Plaster drying can smell horrible

I worked in a house where something had died in the wall cavity or chimney, it was overwhelming and the whole house smelt of the smelliest of bins as soon as I opened the door (owner did apologise was waiting for it to be removed) . I also went in a house where I thought there was leaking gas and it was the washing machine! Wet football boots in a bag smell like tom cat pee to me.
I reckon it’s a dead rat or bird unfortunately but hope you sort it soon.

Plaster has only been done in the last few days. And it's in the extension. The smell isn't in there though I assumed it must be originally as the smell coincided with the work.

Anything up high, air vent or similar, top of cupboards? We had a funny smell in utility, turned out it was the hose from washing machine. It had sort of dipped and water wasn’t draining properly and was stagnant.

YES

We had this and it turned out to be a dead squirrel in the loft. OMG the stench on the landing. At least 3 or 4 weeks of it before we realised what and where it was, and it did smell kinda pissy and almost...cabbagey 🤢

If the floor is concrete then it may be in the wall cavity. Might need to drill a hole and see if the smell is stronger. Maybe you could poke a camera in there?

The dead rodent smell is unique, you can't in smell it and yes a rat can stun m out a whole house easily.

Dead rodent smell is the worst and can last for several weeks. It's the worst smell that i cannot bear to be around at all.
Alternatively, if I smell something similar it's usually my sons sweaty gym gear/ exercise glove/ Astro trainers. Smells exactly like ammonia

Yes, this is my thought too. New plaster stinks!

Check all of your switches and light fittings. They’re usually made of something with urea-formaldehyde in it and that can stink if it gets hot.

We had a dodgy light fitting in an old house. The plastic around the bulb degraded and it absolutely stank of rotting fish!