Something stinks

[ShowOfHands]

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.

Then it is very likely to be a decomposing body. In which case it should go by Christmas. You could try cat litter in trays/open boxes to see if it absorbs some of the smell quicker.

my only other thought is plastic plumbing pipe - have you had any new plumbing? Is it at all possible that the wrong pvc pipe has been used too close to a boiler or hot water pipe and is slowly melting? Heating or hot water outlet and return pipes?

I get that it’s stressful and unpleasant but IF it is a dead rat the smell will pass possibly just 1-3 weeks more. If still continues then who knows what it is.

Have you removed a floor covering to end up just with concrete op? If so it might be cat or dog urine smell from a previous owners pets. It can soak right in to concrete over time.

When something smelt horrendous in our house it was down to the water softener tank not being plumbed in correctly.. Do you have one of those? We couldn't work out where the smell was coming from so we turned it off and within a few hours the smell had gone.

Mouse died in bottom of the dishwasher ?
They are buggers for chewing dishwasher wires and pipes (apparently they are attracted to the smell of wood and sound of water) and can do it for a while before being noticed. They can crawl inside and get electrocuted. Our new dishwasher needed an expensive repair thanks to a furry critter. Apparently it's a very common problem according to the repairman. That and inside oven housings. 🤮

If it is a dead rat it might be in the walls

Can other people smell it?

adhesives and glues in building work can be bad as well. Something died in a chimney?

I know you have said not fridge but I had similar and was busy blaming the cat (had previous form) but it just got worse. I then noticed fridge (built in) was just not functioning at 100% efficiency but no other symptoms.

Engineer came out and the smell was from the coolant in fridge- he showed me the back wall had separated from the sides (you could push it back). There was no leak as such to see but a terminal diagnosis and smell gone once got a new fridge (can you remove to see if smell goes with it)

Cat back in good books but he couldn't give a toss, the dogs were naturally very concerned they might be blamed next

Oh god that’s brought back horrid memories of when our oven wasn’t working properly. On the side was a mouse. Dead. Engineer said was very common. Not for me it wasn’t. It still makes me shiver. Luckily we moved shortly after so I didn’t need to reminded.

Any rows with the builders? Someone sewn prawns into your curtains?

Weirdly, it didn't smell as bad yesterday and I spent the entire school day cleaning again. Today, the smell is back.

I've checked everywhere and everything. I can't check in the walls so it must be that. Maybe it will just disappear and it was a rodent after all.

The builders are friends and we are on very good terms.

We have taken up flooring and left concrete exposed while we choose new flooring and I do know the previous - neglectful - owner had 13 cats so maybe that's the problem. The floor doesn't smell however.

Thinking outside the box - but if the smell came back after you did the cleaning could whatever cleaning stuff you're using be reacting to something or smell dodgy or something? You could try not cleaning for a couple of days? See if that makes a difference?

When you clean, has the floor been mopped even though it's concrete? Could it be something to do with ingrained cat piss and moisture on the floor/drying process?

The smell used to come and go in the beginning when we had a dead rat and it depended on which way the wind was blowing - I wish I was joking but it was true for us! Hope you get it sorted soon

Have you got a range cooker? We used to until a rat family chewed their way in from the attached outhouse... ran under the cupboards (behind plinths) and managed to get in the back plate of my lovely Smeg range. So you couldn't see them but boy could you smell it.
It took forever to locate as the whole room stank. Unsurprisingly as we were probably slowly cooking them 🤮
We skipped it 🤮🤮🤮
£1.5k of damage
Thankfully we no longer live there. We had to get a rat man in who made sure there were no escapees and sealed everything up.
They'd Chomped through brick.

@ShowOfHands I hope you have located it by now.

Most likely dead rat as others have said but I’d ask the local pest controller over to see if they agree - we are in the internet and cannot smell it! If electrics as builder to check all the electrics in case there’s some old wiring connected to your new appliances maybe?
BUT to add
I have just read through the whole thread to check in case someone has mentioned this and I cannot see they have.
This might not be the case but has your builder used any expanding foam type products? There are a few in the market now that are advertised can be used INSTEAD of concrete. It relies on a chemical reaction between two products being mixed together and after the reaction takes place the material dries as hard as concrete. The problem can be if not mixed the materials can off gas a chemical smell . I am aware of a situation like this which turned out to be formaldehyde gas - really not good and a very strong smell.
If the smell isn’t going away and pest controller and builder have no answers then you might need to ask a specialist to come to test inside your house.

Are you detached? If not if the room against net door.
Check attic for dead animal, smell comes through tiny cracks.
If none of those I would think that maybe a soil/waste pipe has a tiny crack and the smell is getting through that.

There's no soil/waste pipe anywhere near where the smell is. No expanding foam used. Can't be the attic as the smell is downstairs, not upstairs. We are semi-detached but the room has no adjoining walls. We do have a range but I've checked it and there's nothing untoward. Electrics are all new and fine.

We have mopped the concrete a couple of times but the smell doesn't seem to coincide with that. Cleaning or not cleaning seems to make no difference.

I have cried about it today. I just can't believe this will ever get better.

We have a dead mouse in the walls at the moment and it's grim. Comes and goes just like you said (I think worse when weather is warmer).

Have you tried odor removal bags? They do seem to help.

This might sound weird, but first thing in the morning when you've all been away from the smell all night, blindfold someone in the family and lead them around the smelly room to see if they can smell it worse in any particular area. Their sense of smell will be at their best then, and blindfolded they won't know where abouts in the room they are to let it cloud their judgement, if that makes sense :)

Check your next door neighbour is still alive.

Hi OP,
I'm sorry to hear you haven't been able to find the source of your smell.

We had a smell from overloaded electrics. It tool us quite a while to pinpoint what it was. It was the fishy/copydex glue smell and it seemed to come in wafts that we couldn't explain. We eventually found that the tumble dryer had been plugged into an extension lead by mistake and was overloading the socket it was drawing on (I don't know why but the plug socket on the wall was scorched).

Do you have any electrics running off extension leads - particularly coiled leads. Are the builders running any dehumidifiers to dry out the extension? Any builders coiled (rotary type) extension leads.

Have you been charging an electric car or anything else with a heavy draw?

I think it would be worth asking an electrician to have a look around.

One of the things that has changed is the extension including new electrics so I would want it checking out for reassurance.

I'm with the dead rodent clan. We had this issue and all I can describe the smell as is rancid. It had come thru from the neighbours house (left empty for months).

The person who suggested waiting til morning and blindfolding someone is really good.

It's 100% a dead rat.

We had one die under our kitchen floorboards 2 years ago. It doesn't smell so strong now but I can still smell it.

We can't find it without ripping up the entire kitchen floor.

We have sold the house (for other reasons too like needing more space) and hopefully complete next month. Cannot take it any more. We haven't had visitors in 2 years.