smelly house!

[AnonymousImport]

Shot in the dark, but:-

We recently bought a 1930's semi which has an intermittant smell emitting from the kitchen area, seemingly up through the floor, (floor boards)

The best description is a pungent fresh garlic and rotten onion smell. It is appalling, seems worse when the house is warm and comes at different times of the day, but worse in afternoon, evening.

Can anyone give suggestions of how to eliminate possibilities. Can environmental health help with such matters. Anything!

 

[breezer]

enviromental health wont be of much use, they like to make sure things are done right in regards to hygene etc. why not lift the floor boards your self and see. (gas mask optional)

 

[king.module]

exorcism....?
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nah... let's face it you've just gotta lift the floor boards and have a nose around (pardon the pun!)

 

[masona]

The best description is a pungent fresh garlic and rotten onion smell.

That's properly what it is,very well known for smell to be in the kitchen because of foods area,sometime if you have a corner base unit the food can drop down in the gap onto the floorboard under the base unit behind the kitchen plinth.Might pay you to remove the plinth before the floorboards and make sure you have no loose airbricks vent anywhere outside or any other little hole that a small animal/pests can get in !

 

[AnonymousImport]

Thank you for the suggestions.

We have looked under kitchen floors, can't see anything yet. Just thought of a couple of extra points.

Because the house seems worse when the heating is on, wondered how this contributes. We have an old Concord open flue boiler, soon to be replaced as renovations commence, but in meantime could it be boilers emit smells? Or if there is something under floor, warm pipes make it worse?

Also being a semi, wondered if next doors cooking smells could come through air holes in party wall foundations?

Environmental health say they only really deal with commercial. Estate Agent and previous owner pleading ignorance. I know it's not from my cooking or food storage etc, we only got a new cooker on Thursday.

Many thanks for the help.

 

[masona]

Also being a semi, wondered if next doors cooking smells could come through air holes in party wall foundations?

There should be no air vent on next door party wall.

It does sounds like the smell is coming from your heating problem....

 

[DaveJ]

Hate to say this, but .... it could be wet / dry rot, fungal growth has come into contact with heating pipes, hence the smell.

You really need to get some floor boards up fast and see whats going on.

If it is dry rot you need expert help.

Dave.