There is a terrible smell in my apartment. I've looked at all the garbages,

[applegrove]

in the kitchen and dinning rooms. I try and suss it out by smell. I find nothing. I've mopped everywhere. I've opened every drawer and checked the kitty litter. I cannot find the source. Do i just wait until it get even worse so it will reveal itself? Found a big honking spider in my hunt...he's on the job too. I deputized him (I don't kill spiders). What to do?

[drray23]

1. check air conditioning vents or under fridge, etc..

you probably have a dead mouse in there. also some fridges have a grid in the back for the air cooling of the compressor. Sometimes mices can get in there and make a nest.

[applegrove]

2. Thanks. I will do that next.

[Me.]

3. Check Holes In Walls, Behind Appliances, In Floors & Radiators If you Have THem

For dead mice

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Assuming you have no Republicans hiding in your apartment

that could account for the stench, there's probably a dead mouse somewhere, like behind a cabinet or an appliance. Do you have a cat who might have killed one but didn't eat it all?

[applegrove]

5. I have two cats but did not know I had mice. The only republicans who make it into my world

are on the Discussionist because I find it useful to see what their head office is telling them to post on any given day. Kind of like having a cookie in their minds that sends back their strategy to me whenever I log on. Which is not often. I have to be in a mood. Thanks. I'll look behind things.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Some cats just kill their prey and don't eat it.

They're like, "Eww! Do I have to take the skin off and cut it up myself?"

[applegrove]

7. My cats have never been outside. I just assumed the outside had not migrated inside.

I'll call someone over who can move a fridge and a stove. Thanks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. I live in an old house and mice get in from time to time.

The cats, who don't go outside, kill and eat them. But, a few times I've found uneaten mouse parts. So it's possible.

[NCjack]

13. Rodents between the wall boards. Remove electrical outlet plates, get close (but not too close

a rat might bite your nose -- just kidding), and smell. Sometimes, esp. when rodents have been poisoned, they die between the wall boards. Also could be a pack rat. Bring in a dog, such as a wiener dog, and look for dog to sniff a location, thereby indicating a nest. Last step to see it it's a rodent, get a UV-light for rodent urine and use as directed to detect a trail.

[Squinch]

8. Check the stove under the burners. A lot of electric stoves have little dishes under the coils and

stuff can get under the dishes and stink. We think about cleaning the dishes but not the space underneath them. They are removable if you raise the coils. I have a gas stove now, and I can see how conceivably liquid could get into the pan under the stovetop.

I once cooked lobster and didn't know about those spaces under the burners. I thought I would die before I found out where the stench was coming from.

[Shrike47]

15. When I was a kid, our hamster got loose and moved into the stove broiler pan.

He made a really cute little nest. Fortunately, we found him before turning on the broiler.

Mice are small and can move into improbably small spaces.

[Squinch]

19. Yikes! Thank god there was no hamster frickasee for dinner!

[Phoenix61]

10. Do you have any sinks, tubs, showers

you haven't used in a really long time? If the water evaporates out of the elbow in the drain line it allows sewer gas to come in. I have a shower I never use and I have to remember to pour water down the drain every couple of weeks.

[customerserviceguy]

18. You beat me to it

I used to work for the water company, and this sometimes caused bad smells. Also, decomposing food in a malfunctioning garbage disposal unit can be blamed, too.

[procon]

11. There are spaces inside the walls, the crawlspace, and in the attic

where some critter could have died or built a nest. That sort of stench is horrible, and hard to remove. Call the landlord and get a pest control company that has special equipment to look everywhere.

[COLGATE4]

12. Is you TV on to Fox? That'll do it every time.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Might be dead mouse in the wall.

[BigmanPigman]

16. Skunks used to fight and/or mate at night under my apartment

on the ground floor. My parents' dog would always go jump into the bathtub because that is where one of them had died (under the bathroom floor) right before I move in I assume. Then they kept coming back until a trap was put out. It was caught and it stank! It was caught alive with an apple with peanut butter.

[k8conant]

17. FWIW - The smell will go away in about 3 weeks

when the mouse or rat dries up.

[japple]

20. If it is a dead animal in between the walls and you can't locate it, I suggest burning

incense. I had that problem a number of years ago. The only thing I found that would help with the stench was incense. I burned through a lot of nag champa.

[2naSalit]

21. This made me think of a joke that I saw on DU a few years ago, oddly.

About a couple who got divorced and fought over who got the house. I'll do my best to get to the point quickly.


The husband lived there until the settlement with his new sweetie but moved on court orders, but he really wanted the house. the wife moves in but discovers a horrid odor that permeates everything throughout the house. She gets new carpet, tries all kinds of things but cannot locate and eliminate the odor so she decides to sell it to the ex for a song just to get out of it and find something less offensive and move on, besides he deserved the stench, she thought.. The ex gladly buys the house for cheap and moves right in and replaced the drapes and all the rods.

It seems that he and the girlfriend decided to make the house unlivable to the wife so she'd sell it back to the ex... well, they had many a seafood dinner and placed the shells inside the curtain rods which wreaked a stench that compares to none. It didn't take long and the wife was glad to give up the house in the end, all while thinking she'd ripped off the ex in the transaction. But she also did them a big favor by redoing the flooring and all the remodeling.

A tale of caution I suppose but it could be something you'd never guess and maybe in plain sight.

[applegrove]

22. It was because my window was open and the neighbouring apartment building garbage

is just a few steps away. Small apartment building now recycle organic waste and it smells. I keep my window closed. Apartment smells fine.

[2naSalit]

23. Yikes!

Glad you found the source! I hope it isn't a problem in the summer!

[applegrove]

24. I just keep my side windows closed all the time.