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.

Absolutely dead rat. In a uni house of mine we had a rat problem the whole time we were there. It can definitely stinks a whole house out and the carcass is usually impossible to find. Unfortunately they take longer to decompose in winter but it should go within about 6 weeks if it's just one on its own.

It’s a rat. My DH often went on about them from his line of work and the smell. We were in the local shopping centre recently and there was such a vile smell that I wanted to pull my T-shirt up over my nose. Like you describe an ammonia style smell. DH instantly said that’s a dead rat. I was horrified never smelt anything like it. Takes around 3-6 weeks to go.

Oh and whoever said about the heating def turn it up and on. They decompose faster with the heat. Once filled decomposed smell can remain for around 2 weeks.

Agree with it probably being a rat.
It's the worst smell I've ever smelt.

Is it only happening when a certain light is on? I’ll bet anything it’s the light fitting degrading. Stinks of fishy, ammonia, absolutely disgusting.

Our new extended downstairs porch and loo smells of manure. Would live to know why.

Have you checked your food processor? We had a god awful smell in the kitchen for months. Turns out that some meatball mix was inside of the chopper arm on the food processor. Get down low and sniff around

Maybe you have rats or mice nesting and it's their wee that smells. Rat urine is horrendous. Might be worth calling a rat man to come check it out.

Old eggs ? They can really stink !

Rotting food left in coat pocket? Dh once forgot a sandwich in a jacket he rarely used. It took a while to find the source of the smell 🤢

Has any sealant been applied by builders/kitchen fitters, around sinks or tiles? That completely reeks of ammonia while it's drying.

I'm going with dead rat too, and yes, 3 weeks is plenty long enough to smell really foul. We had a problem in the roof space of an extension, and it was a very deceased rat. Apparently it is a common problem with extensions; builders don't always cap existing service pipes before the new ones go live, and that's how they get in. The smell is unforgettable...

Building work can disturb rats from the drains. Maybe one’s gone looking for a new home under your floorboards but died there.

I can't afford to turn the heating on.

We have crawled around and sniffed everything. I've climbed ladders and sniffed high up. I have removed everything removable. I have looked under everything. There's nothing in the kitchen bar units (all emptied and cleaned), fridge/freezer, a kettle and a toaster and I've taken everything except the table, a bookcase and a dresser out of the dining room. I have scrubbed every surface and wall. There's nothing left to do, nowhere to look.

Potatoes are in a wire basket and eaten quickly. Nothing rotting. Eggs are in date and fine. Not the lights or sockets (all new and fine). It's not paint or sealant. Nothing is leaking. No damp. Work on extension is fine, signed off by building regs and without issue.

That's it. My house stinks. I live like this now.

Can everyone else smell it or just you? Only asking as when I was pregnant I smelt a terrible smell in the house, only I could smell it, it was weird super heightened sense of smell you get during pregnancy. Any chance you could be?

As I said above, everybody can smell it.

We don't have floorboards. The flooring is either concrete or quarry stone.

Any houseplants ?

Poinsettia, couple of succulents, aloe vera. Had all of them a very long time and they don't smell.

Oh and some hyacinths. Again, they don't smell. They will when they've flowered of course but they don't smell ATM.

Spoke to someone recently, had extension done, wife complained of very bad smell. Eventually had to lift up floorboards for something else, found 2 dead intertwined rats.

Ps I'm currently hunting down mice in my house, getting in through hole beside boiler in garage following the pipes. I have a chalet bungalow and can hear them between my bedroom ceiling and the roof. So it is feasible a rat can also gain or have gained access during building works and now unable to escape or feed so may have perished.

We had a weird drain smell that came and went. For years. Eventually we noticed some rotten flooring after moving a piece of furniture, and found that water from a frequently blocked drain outside the kitchen window was travelling upwards (!) through a disused pipe which the builder had installed when we had a temporary kitchen. He hadn’t capped off the pipe and the tiny intermittent drip had been going for 10 years.

Maybe something like that OP?

Double check the aloe vera plant. We had one go bad and the stench was horrendous. Snip an arm and have a sniff of the inside. On ours the gel had gone all yellowy and the smell was shocking.

Old potatoes behind a cupboard?

Potatoes live in a basket and are fine. Aloe is fine too.

There's almost nothing in the room ATM due to the renovations. We need to put down flooring so it's clear and the builders also need the floor space for some of the work they're doing if it's wet outside. There's nowhere for anything to hide and if it lifts up, I've moved it and cleaned under it. I think I've exhausted every single option.

I've emptied every cupboard again today, mopped every nook and cranny, checked under the units with a normal torch and UV torch, sniffed every inch of the room, scrubbed the work surfaces, used sugar soap on the walls.

I can't do anything else. It's spotless. There's nothing left to check apart from inside the radiators and that's physically impossible.