Horrible Smell

[marath0nman]

Over the last few days a horrible stink like a dead animal has been emanating from the old stone bread oven which is part of our inglenook fireplace. We have a wood burner in the inglenook which is kept on in the evenings. There is no sign of any dead animals like a mouse. The old bread oven appears dry. Our house is 400 years old and has a well which is situated in a blocked off part of the house, but is immediately behind the bread oven. There is access to the well from outside the house, so I took a look and although the water level is high, probably a foot below ground level, I could see or smell nothing untoward.

The smell eases off slightly but is still apparent when the wood burner is on. The smell gets worse as the whole fireplace area cools.

This is the first time we've had the smell in the 18 months we've lived here. Air freshener does not help.

Anyone have any ideas as to the problem and its cure?

Thanks

 

[JonB]

The demise of a previous missing owner.

 

[roughcaster]

A friend of mine and his wife used to live in a 200 year old plus cottage in a place called Seatown, near to where I live.The cottage would have been used by generations of fishermen and their families,but that was long ago, so when he and his wife bought the property in the middle nineties, it had all been renovated/changed, by previous owners in the past. But every now and then, out of the blue,they would smell the strong odour of fish for a short while, and then it would go. They don't live there anymore but it was a regular topic of discussion. If you've ever watched Most Haunted, sometimes in an old building, the crew would get a sudden smell of perfume for a time and then it would disappear. Strange!!!!

Roughcaster.

 

[JohnD]

dead bird fallen down chimney? rat under floor?

 

[memor maplin]

Roughcaster.

someone I knew lived in an old Tudor House every year in June she'd come down and the whole downstairs would be full of perfume.

She said it was Elizabethan Perfume.

I often wonder that what she mistook for Perfume was the fruiting spores of some sort of rot.

I think maybe Marathonman should have his house checked out by a rot expert.

 

[roughcaster]

Thanks for that memor maplin.
Yes, houses can be very strange places,especially if they're old. They have a certain feel about them. I worked in a house that was supposed to be "haunted". During the day it didn't bother me at all,but as soon as darkness began to fall, that's when I began to think about where I was. I saw and heard nothing, but then....???

Roughcaster.