No idea how this will play out on the internet, but here goes nothing…

I’m trying to identify the source of a bad whiff at home.

I have an old Victorian terrace house with a cellar. At some point last year, a fairly pungent aroma wafted up the cellar steps.

The stench is ‘aromatic’, sort of sweet, a bit like a phenol / aromatic hydrocarbon if anyone knows. But it’s strong and so sickly that it has a whiff of a decaying animal. Which is what I thought it was. But nothing was found and the exact source of the smell was impossible to pinpoint. Only a general area towards one wall in the cellar. The party wall if you can have such a thing with the neighbour’s cellar.

Eventually, after about 4 weeks the smell disappeared, reconfirming my thought that something had died.

However, it’s back! And stronger than ever! [film trailer voice]

Maybe it’s to do with the recent rain – but it doesn’t smell every time it rains.

So anyone had similar? It is driving me nuts, and not the best welcome to reay towers.

It’s an ‘organic’ smell but not sure if it’s living. If I could bottle it and upload for your delight, I’d do so, but you know the issues with this forum…

TIA

Deffinatly not a mold or sewerage smell? Have you asked the neigbor if they have the same?
Mould spores in the air make a nasty smell in my cellar; but I wouldnt describe it as overpowering or meaty, more like wet rotting newspaper.
I have a pair of duct fans that swap the air with fresh air from outside in my cellar now. THey’re on a timer so they run at certain times when the ouside temperature isnt too cold. That seems to work well. But you need to kow the source of the smell!

Poltergeist

Sounds mousey

Mercaptan in household gas smells like rotten eggs or aparagus in your pee apparently and can smell in very small quantities. You don’t have a gas leak down there, so to speak, do you?

You don’t have a gas leak down there, so to speak, do you?

Excellent double entendre. Needs recognition.

Any method neighbours poisoning rats or mice? They crawl off to die somewhere….

The Poltergeist’s aftershave was one thought I’d had.

It’s not a mouldy / damp smell, nor of sewers. I’ve not heard of mercaptan so will investigate.

I was only half convinced it was dead mouse / rat previously, but they do have various aromas over time. This stink doesn’t change and is so similar to what went before I can’t believe it is a dead animal (again).

Do you have a standard fridge down there – sometimes, if something gets spilt in the fridge, if will go down the condensate drain to a tray on top of the compressor where it evaporates. OK for water, but not for various liquids that turn into nasty sludge. Just had this with our fridge.

Just had this with our fridge.

I once had very similar only it blocked the drain tube. Spilt milk that had congealed. 🤢

Sounds mousey

That’s what I thought – mouse or rat

Do you live downwind to NickC ?.  Maybe it’s his shoes you can smell 😕

Yeh fridge/freezer is a good bet, I had simmilar once. As above, some manky stuff in the drain tube thing inside the fridge.

Do you trust your neighbours?

<insert serial killer with captive in basement dot gif>

No fridge down there.

It is damp.

Resigning myself to it being (dead) animal again.

Nothing worse than a “smelly cellar”!

Live next to Fred West?

Was your house built on an old landfill?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal

I have an old Victorian terrace house with a cellar. At some point last year, a fairly pungent aroma wafted up the cellar steps.

Damp more likely?

If after all the “scientific” explanation or search yield no result than there might be other unknown possibilities.

If it is a dead animal etc the smell will be constant in one area and will not return after it is gone.

Does the smell “move” around? Sometimes it is very obvious in one location sometimes in other area? If so then you have a malevolent spirit visiting you. Or does the smell only appear at certain time of the day or follow you around? Notice any shadow at the corner of your eyes? Anyone had nightmare or weird spooky dreams lately?

Rotting smell is generally associated with malevolent spirit. Floral smell is associated with female (most likely) spirit that can be either malevolent or benevolent.

Cheers all

@chewkw definitely static and no bad dreams. Floral sort of smell, so who knows though?

The neighbours don’t have it. Their cellar has been properly tanked, so not as damp as mine, and probably displaces some of that damp my way…

Who knows what was buried when they tanked it out though 🧐

Not built on landfill afaik but seriously the end of the garden was an abattoir til the 1990’s so god knows what’s in the ground. On the plus side, the flowers grow well though.

Sweet smell you described will almost certainly be a dead rat

@easygirl

Ta, I think I’ve been convinced 👍

Not built on landfill afaik but seriously the end of the garden was an abattoir til the 1990’s

Probably just anthrax then! I grew up near a tan yard, they found anthrax in the soil when turning it into housing

(Cue the dodgy metal band jokes!)

We are in an Edwardian terrace, we get a smell once to twice a year. Everyone here trying to keep rat population down so I put it down to that.

Not built on landfill afaik but seriously the end of the garden was an abattoir til the 1990’s so god knows what’s in the ground.

I see. Keep the observation. See if the smell will go away.

As abattoir is a place of death and the stagnant energy is there.

Burn some sage to see if the smell will go away.

On the plus side, the flowers grow well though.

Good fertiliser that.

We are in an Edwardian terrace, we get a smell once to twice a year. Everyone here trying to keep rat population down so I put it down to that.

You will know if the smell is from dead animal.
Dead animal smell is constant at one location until it is completely gone after a few days, well depending on the size of the animal. Back in Borneo we get all sort of road kills ranging from stray dogs, cats, chickens, rats, giant lizards, iguanas and other wild animals. As a kid we used to see maggots digesting the rotting carcass all time. The smell of death for all of them are almost the same.

Smell/odour from visiting spirits is very different. The smell will “move” around. Sometimes it follows you.

My doberman pet dog died while I was in the UK and my parents just buried her in our garden. One morning in the UK I was woken up by a very strong smell of roses in my bed room, so strong that it almost chocked me. It was as if someone just poured a bottle of rose perfume on my bed. Weird feeling and my bedroom windows were only opened partially and there was only one (one) rose flower in the garden that was Wilting outside. My parents called me to let me know our pet dog died the day before and was buried in the garden. I told my parents there was a strong rose perfume smell in my room (thinking it might be a female “vampire” spirit visiting me) that morning. My mum laughed and gladly said ” Oh that must be (name pet dog) visited you to say goodbye … your silly father poured a good bottle of rose perfume onto her (pet dog) before burying her. Our house has strong smell of roses too as we know her spirit is still around.”

thisyou?

Had similar in a rented terrace when i lived in South Manchester, thought it was the fridge and had a maintenance guy out several times to investigate.

Turned out the down-pipe in the back yard had shifted slightly and was dumping rainwater/gutter sludge underneath the house via a lovely hole next to the drain.

Should have known as only smelt bad when it rained!

If it is a dead animal etc the smell will be constant in one area and will not return after it is gone.

The specific smell might not but another animal certainly will, it may also die, new smell, smells the same.

until it is completely gone after a few days,

The misconception here is that the smell will go quickly. The rate it fades at depends on what condition it is in, how well ventilated, how wet and how big. Smaller well things in drier, better ventilated spaces desiccate faster and stop smelling sooner.

Behind a cellar wall? It’s unlikely to be dry, especially warm and well vented. It’s fairly likely to be something reasonably sized, so not a mouse, it’s unlikely to attract anything which eats it so will be fairly good condition. In short it’ll stink, and for a good while at that. Especially if what ever it is happened to be washed into a void by a lot of rain.

It could of course be something much less troublesome such as your neighbor mixing quantities of volatile chemicals. Have they ever expressed displeasure at “the man”?

Had similar in a rented terrace when i lived in South Manchester, thought it was the fridge and had a maintenance guy out several times to investigate.

Turned out the down-pipe in the back yard had shifted slightly and was dumping rainwater/gutter sludge underneath the house via a lovely hole next to the drain.

We had worse – odd smell in the garden of a rented house, coming from an area not easily accessible without ladders etc, so reported it to the landlord – it turned out it was the old ceramic soil stack pipe which had cracked and was dumping raw shite into the garden. The poor chap who turned up to clean it up looked shell shocked… <boak>

A dead animal will produce putrescene or cadaverine, which does, apparently, have a sort of sweetish smell, the fact that it seems to come and go, suggests that there may be some way that wildlife are able to get in somewhere, but get trapped.

How you determine where the entrance is I honestly don’t know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrescine

It apparently has industrial uses as a preservative!

Putrescine is a component of bad breath and bacterial vaginosis. It is also found in semen and some microalgae, together with spermine and spermidine. It is one of the simplest, appear to be factors necessary for proper eukaryotic cell division.

It reacts with adipic acid to yield the polyamide Nylon 46, which is marketed by DSM under the trade name Stanyl.

Application of putrescine, along with other polyamines, can be used to extend the shelf life of fruits by delaying the ripening process. Pre-harvest application of putrescine has been shown to increase plant resistance to high temperatures and drought. Both of these effects seem to result from lowered ethylene production following exogenous putrescine exposure.

Cheers CountZero – that nails it as far as I’m concerned.

Great science!

Half of my cellar space is filled almost to the ceiling (floor?) With rubble.

So the animal is almost certainly under there somewhere – albeit the smell is strongest in the part of the cellar I can use (obvs).

Will just let chemistry do its thing.

Sounds like a dead animal to me – in chimney breast ( if you have one), cavity wall, or under floor boards. It is the smell you get from hedgerows often with road kill rotting away. Once you know what it is, it is very distinctive.

How do I know :
I once had a garden with a hedgehog that lived in it. It was great to see the hedgepig running up and down the drive at night. The one day it went!

About 2 moths later the garage started to have a distinctive odour. It got worse and worse as we went into summer – so I had to go and investigate.

It turns out that the hedgehog and slipped in between two plant pots and wedged itself in. I used the garage every day and never heard squeal or screams so very sad 🙁 .
I found what I thought wa a whole hedgehog – that suddenly turned to liquid puss as soon as it was moved. The stench was near vomit inducing.