fewerlbs
Jul 18, 2007, 09:23 PM
We're in a 5 month old new construction home. It's a split ranch with master on one side and 2 guest bedrooms and bath on other side. There is a smell in one guest room or both or in both bedrooms and bathroom or just bathroom. It seems more noticeable when it is damp or after it rains. My husband seems to think it comes from the HVAC but when we smell the vents as they're blowing we can't smell it specifically in that spot. The smell is of something dead. We had a dead mouse in the wall in another house we lived in and the smell is very similar. We've had our HVAC company come out to inspect everything and they couldn't find anything. They checked the HVAC tubing(?) in the attic, looking for a rodent or something but said if it was smaller than a football they wouldn't be able to find it. We've noticed this for about 4 out of the 5 months we've lived here. It's very random, is not always in the same room twice but is always in either the guest bedrooms or bathroom and nowhere else in the house. It does seem to be worse during damp weather. I'm almost convinced that it's a dead animal but if it is, how long should we expect that it will take to decompose completely? We figured that if something small did die in the vents of the HVAC that eventually it will dry up and go away but how long does that take? The mouse that died in our other house was so tiny but the smell it created would have made you think a 200lb man was rotting in the wall. We're at a loss as to what to do. Of course the builder and/or subcontractors won't take any responsibility because whenever someone comes to check it out, the smell isn't there since it's so random. One night I opened the closet in one of the guest bedroms and the smell in there was the strongest it's ever been but it didn't smell anywhere else that particular time. There are no vents in the closet. It has not smelled in there before or since that night. So weird. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!