Today there was a terrible smell in my house. I checked the kitty litter - No it wasn't that. Checked the fridge that my son had recently opened - nope. Finally realised it was my son's boots. I made him take them outside and put them out under the carport. He tried to tell me that they didn't stink at all - I don't think he has any sense of smell at all. So when was the last time you had to check to see what a smell was (and what was it)?
Today, one of the dogs decided to bring a dead mouse into the house after their walk. The GF insisted it was something I did, until we noticed him being sneaky in trying hide it.
At one time, we lived in a house where the person-to-bathroom ratio was such that one downstairs bathroom essentially went unused year round, and I learned, the hard way, all about the wonder and heartbreak of dry traps.
We just moved into a different condo and I've noticed a weird smell coming from the linen closet. I can't figure out what it is but I'm concerned that there's a water leak somewhere nearby.
I work in an industrial plant and some buildings have nothing going on anymore, so they pour "food grade" glycerin down the drains to prevent problems like yours. It doesn't evaporate as fast as water.
One time at work, there was a strong odor of what smelled like a disinfectant or cleaning product when no one was doing any cleaning in the building. I was at a loss to explain the smell until a customer at the front counter left -- and the smell left with him. It was his cologne!
i can't believe you posted this question. Just last week my basement smelled like dead fish (no wisecracks please!) LOL! It stunk! I hunted around for the longest time and couldn't figure out what it was. I was afraid one of the crazy cat lady's cats might have gotten in an died in there. I never figured it out, but i think it may have had to do with the cesspools. I just hope it doesnt happen again.
Melted plastic in a dishwasher, when the item fell from the top shelf/drawer to the heater at the bottom. Truly a bad stench!
one time I was just on the edge of sleep, and my brother was up late and decided to cook some pork . . . well the smell woke me up, and I couldn't parse the smell . . . it didn't smell like meat cooking so now we have this running joke that all started when I came downstairs with sleepy eyes and said "UGH What's that smell!?"
Last time this happened I discovered it was some potatoes that had sat unused in a cupboard for quite some time...rotting potatoes is a disgusting smell. The worst thing I ever had the displeasure to smell was an expired TV dinner type thing. This was years ago when I was in high school. It wasn't a frozen one, but one of those noodle bowls where you add water and cook in the microwave I believe. I don't know how long it had been sitting there and I'm not even sure what was in it that could have created the smell that it did...my dad started cooking it in the microwave and within seconds it could be smelled throughout the entire two story home. I can't even describe it, it wasn't the usual food rot smell, it was like...burning plastic and body odor and decomposing flesh all together. We all started gagging and the smell was so strong we literally had to leave the house for a few hours to get away from it.
Sorry about that... I can't recall a time when I had to track down a smell, but I've heard stories, like a bad odor in a house and eventually after not finding it, located a dead (something) in the attic. And I just heard a blurb on hte radio a couple days ago about a couple people having a bad odor coming from their car and finding a dead body in the trunk.
I'd take such stories with a grain of salt. Mysterious foul odors that turn out to be emanting from a hidden corpse are the stuff of urban myth.
I moved into my house in the summer. When winter came we were very excited to try out the ducted heating, something no house I'd lived in before had had. So we cranked it up.. and OMG it stank of possum piss because the possums had been living in the ducts under the house for who knows how long. It was like a possum piss sauna. Also I once rescued an old decrepified crabby cat. She was lovely. Until the day she pissed on my stove which I discovered when I turned on the oven and the whole house filled with the stench of heated cat piss.
I work in a children's clothing store, and lately when the little girls take their Uggs off to try on clothes, their feet stink up the whole fitting room area. It's like something died in their boots. I have no idea how their parents don't realize how bad it is.