I want to rip my nose off!!

[Beyondbearable]

Name changed for this because, well, no one would really want to admit to this problem.

We discovered we had rats in the house 2weeks ago, called someone out, blocked where we suspected they were entering, bleached and scrubbed everywhere etc etc. No evidence of rats since, all good. At least we thought!

For the past four days there is an awful smell, which I can only describe as rotten chicken/meat, in one downstairs room. We can pin point the smell to certain areas of the floor, about three specific points, but the whole room is starting to smell too. We have concluded that there is prob a dead rat (or several) under the floorboards in the footings of the house. We cannot get to this space to find and remove whatever it is under there.

So my question is this, how do i get rid of this smell, or at least dampen it down to make it bearable whilst we wait it out for the rat to decompose and dry up??

I'm hoping this thread doesn't turn into a debate of how rats should be dealt with in the first place, we are where we are and I just need to somehow deal with the smell.

Likewise for pulling up the floor, that is not an option either.

So please wise mumsnetters, does anyone have any suggestions?

I would call the person you called out in the first place and ask their advice tbh

Poor little things, I understand not wanting to share a house but I guess they where inside and couldn't get out which I assume was not the intention to imprison them with you.

Any way in answer to your question decomp smell only lasts 2-3 weeks on average, less in dry hot spaces, mid in cold damp or cold dry and longer in hot damp spaces.

Only advice is to try bowls of bicarb around the room.

Had this recently. We too had rats under the floor and had to call in pest control. They blocked and baited and of course we had the smell after. Decomposing rodents are vile! I bought some "rodent odour clearing bags" from a pest control site. Not sure what they're full of but they help absorb the smell. It won't get rid of it, just help with dispersing it. They aren't cheap, and you need at least three (approx £50 total) for an average sized room. That and ventilating the room was all I could do. When the smell finally goes, it's such a bloody relief.

Open a window and wait!
Sorry 😆. But console yourself that it's far better to smell dead rats for a few days than to hear them squeaking and chewing under your floor, worse yet, in your house....

What room is it? If possible keep the door shut so it doesn't spread around the house.

@BilboBlaggin did the bags smell themselves? Someone told me the smell of those are almost as bad as the decomposing smell, or they might have been talking about something else.

Will the smell get worst before it gets better seeing as we're only 4 days in?

@Onlyvisiting absolutely, I had one run through my legs when I went downstairs in the middle of the night! the smell we have now is awful, but at least I know they aren't still running around the house. It's the living room, unfortunately the front door, stairs and kitchen all come off it so no chance of shutting it off 😣

The bags I got didn’t smell at all. It went in for a week or 10 days I think, but 4 days in you’re probably already getting the worst of it.

@BilboBlaggin thank you, I shall have a look into those then.

Fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse!

We had this three Christmas's ago. The smell was awful and then the downstairs filled up with massive bluebottles, it was like a scene from a horror film. By the end of the Christmas holidays the flies had all gone and the smell was much fainter. We ended up being out all day, every day and only coming home to sleep upstairs where the flies and smell hadn't got to.

My work had this - terrible smell and then bluebottles. They had to close the office for a long weekend while the flies were sprayed and removed. It was disgusting. Once they were gone the dead rat smell was mostly gone too.

Oh no!

I'm hoping the flies can't actually get into to the room as it's in the footings and we've got carpet etc which I'm hoping they can't get through.

Do you have family or friends that you could stay with for a week?

I'd get the pest control back to see what they suggest, but having had similar.. they said either you leave it as it is and it will potentially take weeks with the smell getting worse or you can turn the heating up full blast to try speed up the decomposing...

Luckily the pest controller managed to pin point exactly where the rat was and pulled up the floorboard.

It's a smell I'll never forget so you have my total sympathy.

Sorry just to add it was also helpful when he pulled up the floorboard as he was able to check the rat hadn't chewed through any cabling whilst under there..

@covetingthepreciousthings I don't think I will ever forget this smell, one of those smells that doesn't seem to leave once you get it up your nose 🤢

The smell is strongest under the floor by the log burner so I'm wondering if I get that going really hot it might help speed things up?

We have carpet that's only been laid for a couple of months so we're really reluctant to pull it up, don't know if we will get it back down well enough, but at the same time I don't know if I can cope with this smell for much longer.

@MaryLennoxsScowl unfortunately not, we have no choice but to stay

Did the person that came round put poison down? I think that's one of the problems, they'll eat the poison then crawl off to die somewhere like under the floorboards..

I think I'd crank the log burner up and hope for the best..

Try and go out/eat supper in a bedroom. It's so nasty but it won't be for too long. Stick cotton wool up your nose in the house.

Urgh, we had rats when I was a child, and I still remember the awful putrid rotting cabbage smell and hundreds of bluebottles that infested the downstairs.

I don't know what my parents did, but it was all gone after 2 weeks.

Happened to us, wooden floorboards, height of an Australian summer. We bought some sort of odour disguising chemical which supposedly overpowers the bad smell. It was still pretty awful but it stopped us from going mad.

@Beyondbearable menthol on the tip of your nose sometimes helps the smell not affect you so much!

Charcoal can help absorb smells, so some bbq charcoal from the petrol station in containers around the room might help.
Vick’s Vapour Rub (or generic) up your nostrils.

@covetingthepreciousthings yes he did, we had already tried traps to catch them on the spot but they were too clever and it wasn't working. So the bait was laid.

@Happyinarcon that must have been what I was previously told about, stuff that overpowers it with a different smell.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I've got windows open, using bicarb and vinegar to try and neutralise it and have a scented candle burning, not entirely sure if any of it is working, but it seems to only be me that's struggling with it and the rest of the family are fine, so maybe all that is actually doing something. Might get charcoal or those odour packets next

We have rats (farmland) and no matter how many spots we block up we can never get fully rid so I have a routine of putting poison down regularly since my cats can't be arsed to try and catch them.

We don't have central heating and have found the worst of the smell is gone in around 4 days. It seems to be worse coming up from under the floor, there's not much smell from the loft.

We open windows where possible, regular cleaning and if we're going to be sitting in a room we'll often light a candle for a while.

No advice, just my sympathies. I have a family member who is constantly getting rats and their house smells like that about twice a year. It's absolutely revolting 🤢

Just get the pest controller back out?

Why are you ignoring this suggestion?