SMELL THAT WILL NOT GO AWAY!!

caitlinryanritchie

We have had this horrible smell that lingers in our house.  It is coming up from the unfinished basement and it is the worst in the mornings.  It is a mixture of must and kitty litter.  Now I clean the kitty litter every day so I don't understand how it can smell like that!! I even bleach the container once a week!!  We have cleaned the entire basement top to bottom, washed the floors, febreeze all furniture!!!  It never used to smell until a few months ago and we cannot stand it!! I have to spray the crap out of the house and have candles burning everywhere to keep the smell down while we have company over.  Now, its not a very strong smell, it just lingers...but we refuse to have a smelly house!!!

Any ideas?? 

zachsgirl91809

This probably won't help you but maybe just an idea. 

I kept smelling what I thought to be a dead mouse (EWWW) in our broom closet. It got worse and worse until I just wouldn't even open the door anymore. I cleaned it out, sprayed it, put air freshner in there, baking soda-you  name it-I tried it. Finally the smell started to get less and less til I forgot about it.  Then my husband had to take the electric panel off for some reason (the electric panel is in the closet) and a mouse had somehow got in there and died. double YUCK. 

 So I guess my advice would be to look somewhere like that....Hope you can figure it out! I know how annoying it can be! 

cotner

Maybe try having your ducts cleaned.  Also, you may need a dehumidifier in the basement.  A couple months ago was beginning of summer and the humidity may be causing the musty smell and sticking to crud in your ducts. 

lmdbww

cotner:

 Also, you may need a dehumidifier in the basement.  A couple months ago was beginning of summer and the humidity may be causing the musty smell and sticking to crud in your ducts. 

This. Definitely. 

soozy87

I would suggest a dehumidifier also. My mom always smelled a really nasty smell in our house, could never figure out what it was. Well my parents put in a new water heatear or something and the installer said that it was a natural gas leak in the house. Smelled like a dead mouse. That fixed the problem, and luckily prevented a major disaster!

David'sgirl

Quick PSA: please check the plug to your water heaters, washing machine, dryer etc....when the filament is wearing out it causes this unidentifiable smell. This can be very dangerous and can lead to a fire. My bedroom caught on fire and everything was destroyed because of this. I had been noticing the smell for about a week. Cleaned everything and chalked it up to random smell that will go away. Anyway at the end of that week due to the corrosion, the waer heater caught on fire and everything went up in flames....

doeie04

Do you have a drain in the floor down there? Sometimes they start to stink if it is getting plugged. I would snake that out too, and maybe pour some vinegar in.