We have a split-level home with one bathroom 1/2 up from ground level and the second 1/2 below ground level (windows on this level are at ground level). Just outside our upstairs bathroom (which is also just outside our master bedroom), we are all noticing a strong, "rest-stop" type stale urine/stool smell. It isn't always there, and I noticed today that after I flushed the toilet, I couldn't smell the odor--but that doesn't mean it wasn't entirely gone. I've cleaned the toilet/bathroom until it fairly glows, and I don't smell the odor inside the bathroom--even at the toilet. Nor do I notice the same smell in our bedroom, although we are in the process of tearing out the carpet. Our home is 19 years old, bought new, and we've always had problems with the strength of the flush. It's so bad that we keep a plunger in permanent residence beside the toilet--which frequently jams. I'm at my wit's end. Nothing is leaking. The smell seems to be confined to just outside the bathroom/bedroom, which is at the top of a 1/2 flight of open stairs. Any ideas?

Do you live on a hill where there are downdrafts? Cheers, Tom

We have a bad smell in a fron bedroom which we cannot trace. Outside the window a shrub suddenly died and the smell can be detected in the roots of this.
We have had various firms call and they have said that it is not dry rot, wet rot etc - the walls are dry. There is not trace of anything under the suspended floor. This smell has been there for about three weeks. We are running out of ideas but have just tried digging out the roots of the shrub and put a bucket of diluted jeyes fluid in the hole. We hope that this might be an snswer but are not optimistic. Please help