Ask Me Help Desk - Strange smell in my house

Strange smell in my house

I have a strange smell in my house it started 1 week ago I thought it was coming from outr heater vents like a gas smell I called the fire dept they test for carbon monoxide there was none they said it smelt like ammonia or cat piss I smelled the carpets and cat pan no smell I let the house air out with all doors open after about an hour the smell disappered and the fire dept never found the smell and now a week later today I started smelling it again there's no smell one min and the next the whole house smells like gas or ammonia or cat piss I can't tell what the smell is someone help I have lived her 4 yrs and no smell like this has ever happened it makes me vomit and dizzy

I posted the above q if any one has any answers email me at [email protected] thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeleebear58

i have a strange smell in my house it started 1 week ago i thought it was coming from outr heater vents like a gas smell i called the fire dept they test for carbon monoxide there was none they said it smelt like ammonia or cat piss i smelled the carpets and cat pan no smell i let the house air out with all doors open after about an hour the smell disappered and the fire dept never found the smell and now a week later today i started smelling it again theres no smell one min and the next the whole house smells like gas or ammonia or cat piss i can't tell what the smell is someone help i have lived her 4 yrs and no smell like this has ever happened it makes me vomit and dizzy

Leeleebear58 -#1 do you have a cat in the house? YOU said it makes you almost vomit, dizzy etc. have the gas co. come out to test for a gas leak. Fire dept tested for wrong thing. The gas co's. Put stuff in natural gas so that it can be smelled, usealy people say smells like rotten eggs or patatoes, I myself think you have a gas leak, so ( YOU NEED TO CALL GAS CO> AS SOON AS POSIBLE< THEY USEALY HAVE PEOPLE ON CALL 24 HRS A DAY< CALL Before It's TO LATE ) I HOPE THIS ANSWER HELOS ANSWER YOUR QUESTION< GOOD LUCK & GOD BLESS>:::: F.B.E.:eek: then:)

It could be a leak around a toilet base. I've seen where the wax ring is not sealing around the bowl causing sewer gas to leak into the house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by peschmid

It could be a leak around a toilet base. I've seen where the wax ring is not sealing around the bowl causing sewer gas to leak into the house.

:eek: LeeLeeBear58 - IF IT IS A LEAK Of sewer gas COMEING FROM UNDER THE TOILET There would more then likely , Be standing water around the base of the toilet. I do Kmow also that IF there is not water kept in the drain traps, ALL, TUB SINKS ECTECT THERE# WILL be sewer gas comeing out the drains , HOPE WE HAVE HELPED YOU <IF WE HAVE RATE OUR ANSWERS BELOW GOOD LUCK & GOD BLESS ::: F.B.E. ;) :o :D

I had an amonia smell in my home as well. I don't have cats, or pets at all for that matter. The smell seemed to like a mixture of amonia and formaldehyde. At first I thought it was something electrical so I unpulgged everything in the room where the smell was and that didn't work. The smell wasn't present all the time, but when it was it made me sick to my stomach and even gave me heartburn. After smelling everything in the room like a bloodhound I finally found the smell. It was some drapes that my wife had put up about a month earlier. In the afternoon the hot summer sun would hit the side of the house that the drapes were on and the fire retardant in the fabric, which was made of a formaldehyde solution, would emmit the odor.

I have something like this... I think it is my dog. Do you have pets

Check your electrical, sometimes a strange smell will come from the outlets if you have a 75 watt bulb in a 60 watt fixture. Just an example:)

Listen to this! I had the same problem. I finally found it. I have a light socket fixture, that I plugged in the ceiling. It holds a light bulb, but you can also plug things into the side of the fixture. It's one of these plastic adapters for light bulb fixtures, you buy for $5 at the local hardware store. I had an extension chord running to it, with too much power going into it, and it was slowly frying it, over a long period, producing a chemical (amonia) smell. Hope this helps. Check what you're plugging stuff into.

Do you have a high efficiency front load washer? Moisture can collect around the rubber seal and cause mold which is said to smell similar to cat urine. Good luck.

Robert1112.. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I had this problem, this ammonia spell would just appear out of no where. I cleaned and cleaned, washed the curtains in the bedroom. It was just confined to one corner of the bedroom. When I moved the nightstand, the smell was stronger (had a 3 plug adapter in one the outlets), but it was also to the ceiling When I unplugged everything except my clock and lamp, the smell stopped. The 3 plug adapter was extremely hot to the touch.

My hot water tank foold my berroom I been suck up water for 3 days now but I can't get the smell out of my room and it make my hole houses smell like anomia can't any one tell me what to use to get it gone out of my house can't even sleep in my room it smells so bad

Check your dishwasher! Ours died and it produced this strange wafting plastic pesticide musty smell that started as a whiff then within minutes stronger and stronger until we all noticed. Then it slowly dissipated after we opened up a cross breeze in the house. But the smell kind of lingered in the kitchen. Hope this helps someone!

If you don't have any pets at home then I think the smell is coming from sewer pipe leak. This leak is responsible for horrible smell all through the house that no body understands in the beginning.

Could be a neighabor cooking drugs . We had this smell and almost went crazy, all of a sudden , the next door neighabors house blew up. They said he was cooking dope
Smell stopped.

It's amazing how people will come up with the most lame excuses for the supernatural as those above. An erratic smell of ammonia could very well mean a spirit is in your home, probably an unhappy spirit that may have been there all along. Did you remodel the house? I recently rehabbed a 300 year old house and have been going through the same issue. Just tonight sitting in the living room in front of the fire I had the strongest smell of ammonia waft through just for several seconds. This smell has been off and on since I started rehabbing the property several years ago and is not confined to one area. It happens very erratically and has gotten me to the point of having a "specialist" in to get rid of the source. It's not a toilet drain.

Tell it to leave if you ever smell it again if you haven't already moved.
This stuff DOES happen but can be controlled and shouldn't make someone leave their home..

I was smelling a strong ammonia smell all of a sudden in my house, googled and came to this feed and noticed the guy who said it may be electrical, well I had just put a stronger wattage bulb in to a lizards heat lamp. It had only taken 20 minutes for a bulb to make whole house smell.