Weird Smell in House

I have 2 quick comments:

1. You can't get rid of a smell until you know the source. Otherwise you're just masking it.

2. Natural remedies can be caustic just like the ones you're trying to avoid. Vinegar is a great disinfectant, but it's acetic acid, so you have to be careful using it.

You also need to be careful that whatever is causing the smell isn't creating a serious health hazard for you or your family.

What kind of smell is it?? Is it from a specific area?
We had a smell for months, bad, like something died.
It turned out we had a pipe leaking underneath the house that was causing it.

We had a weird smell once and cleaned the whole house top to bottom and it was still there. Come to find out, a opossum died under the house by the furnace. Where is the smell located? If it's the carpet try cleaning with vinegar steam clean. It will smell like vinegar for a few days but works well for odd odors.

You have to find the source before you can get rid of the smell. Anytime there is a weird smell in our house there is always a dead animal involved. Especially since you can only smell it in one or two parts of the house it is most likely a dead animal. Once you find the source, the smell will be gone.

You need to find the cause of the odor and not just cover the smell. Likely culprits are spoiled food (a small piece of rotten potato can still smell rather strong) to something dead in the walls (not what anyone wants to deal with). If you think it is in your A/C system, change the filter and check for anything in that area that might be causing the smell (look for open bottles of chemicals, rotten food, and animal droppings). If you find droppings, you may need to call a professional.

We had a phantom smell in our house one. We never did figure out what it was. We put rock salt in bowls all through the area that smelled. The salt absorbed the smell.

Place small dishes of ground coffee beans around the house. Works like a charm.

We have gone through weird smells several times. Last week we had a horrible smell downstairs, and I went all over trying to find it. Finally I got rid of the trash in the trash can in the basement. I don't know what was in there, but wow, did it smell bad. Another time the carpet had gotten wet and was musty from not drying. Cleaned the carpet and it got better. We had a smell in the living room once that was driving me crazy. I never did figure it out, but I think something spilled under the sofa. I pulled the sofa out and doused the carpet with carpet deodarizer and it helped. I think you need to narrow in on what it could be. Look under the furniture, get on the floor and sniff. Throw out all items in trash cans. I like damp rid for smell relief. It smells good and if it is due to moisture it will take care of it.

Do you have any friends who shop with Melaleuca? Ask them if they have Sol-U-Mel. It gets rid of ANY smell! Good luck.

I know when we had a weird smell I found an old sippy cup under a bed w/curdled milk in it. You may want to find the source rather than covering it up. Kids are known for leaving food, drinks, other stuff behind furniture, under things, in an old school bag or back pack. Good luck!

I hate to say this but you could have a dead mouse in one of your walls. They stink for a while until they dry out... We have one in the wall in our church closet. :-)

That said, change all the filters in your AC and heating units. You can put some candles in an onion bag and put them in your heating/AC vents so that when it's blowing air, it's blowing a nice smell.

If you have a crawl space, make sure there isn't any standing water down there...

If you have a bathroom you don't use, the traps could be dry. Run some water down there.

Other than that, I've got nothing, except Febreeze???
LBC

What kind of smell?
Is it in the room or permeating from perhaps the attic or basement or under the foundations?
The carpeting?
Furniture?
Rodents somewhere?
Have you always lived in this house... or have you recently moved into a new home which was previously occupied?

Maybe some old rotting food left somewhere? Kids sometimes will leave food stuffs somewhere hidden... in the unlikeliest places... which I have found myself sometimes. And it stinks....

Until you find the source of the smells... it will not go away.... as the other posters said.

good luck,
Susan

Just something to consider....we came home one day from work and the house smelled awful! Couldn't figure where it was coming from as it seemed to be everywhere.
Later that evening, we finally found it...the potatoes we had sitting on the kitchen counter (whole, uncooked). They were only a few days old, but one had rotted and OMG what a smell!!

It was so odd and we obviously didn't even think that could have been the culprit so we didn't check them.

Good luck...