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View Full Version : How to distinguish what is causing house odor


SissyLu
Nov 25, 2007, 07:44 PM
I have been having a horrible smell in my house for about a month or more. At first it smelled like a dead animal. Now some of the same or like a gas leak ( which I don't have anything that runs on gas), also reminds me of day old collard greens. I smell it most when washing clothes or after taking showers. My bathroom and kitchen are side by side and the cabinets that line that wall release this odor when opened. My bathroom vanity also smells when opened. I have sniffed around the pipes in the tub and can smell it / in the wall. My husband has gone under the house and didn't see anything dead or any grey water in our sump pump. Please if anyone knows what this could be or how to deal until its gone.

Clough
Nov 25, 2007, 07:52 PM
It could possibly be methane gas that you are smelling? How long have you lived in the home? Do you live in a city or out in the countryside somewhere?

SissyLu
Nov 25, 2007, 08:03 PM
I have lived in the house for 7 yrs. It is in the country

Clough
Nov 25, 2007, 08:11 PM
Thank you for answering! Knowing that you live in the country will help people here in helping you to figure out what the problem is.

If you live out in the country, might I assume that you have well water. Correct? If you do have well water, then you might want to have a professional come out and check to see if it is okay. If you are drinking the water, you might want to consider stopping drinking it and buying bottled water for drinking until you have your water tested.

Also, there are links on the following link where there is information that you might want to read.

well water smell - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=well+water+smell)

SissyLu
Nov 26, 2007, 10:23 AM
The smell isn't under the kitchen sink just the cabinets that line the same wall as the bathroom/ I also don't smell it in the laundry room just in the bathroom and the same cabinets mentioned previously

parttime
Nov 26, 2007, 10:44 AM
It's not Methane gas it is odorless, are you on a septic tank?

SissyLu
Nov 26, 2007, 05:33 PM
Yes

flyingpuppies
Jan 21, 2008, 07:53 PM
Don't know if it will help, but we have a seemily similarproblem: only during October to April do we get a strange odor in the house. Seems to be worse in dining room and master bedroom. Odor is coming out of cold air returns. Its not there everyday. But when it is, about half the time, its bad. We start opening our windows in cold weather to air out the odor. We have had the septic people out, a plumber, the natural gas provider, the furnace checked, no one can figure it out.
We checked for empty drains, tried to relate it to washing clothes, dishes, showers, water softener recharging - and can't find a trend or a cause. It smells like sewage, but odor isn't in bathrooms. We have a septic tank and had it cleaned.

LPNIAMRN2BEE
Apr 26, 2013, 01:42 PM
Your septic tanks need to be checked for leaking...

LPNIAMRN2BEE
Apr 26, 2013, 01:43 PM
Your septic tanks need to be checked for leaking....
Oh... wow... that was several years ago...