Mysterious basement smell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will dead mice be discovered in the walls during a gut reno that takes everything down to the studs?

Probably? I mean they are teensy and will basically turn to dust. I don’t think you need to stress about them.

[Anonymous]

OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

[Anonymous]

It could be sewar smells. There is a trap that dries out which usually blocks the smell. But, if you have not been using all of the drains, they dry out so bad that the sewar smells backup into the house. Drop buckets and buckets of water down every drain in your basement. Flush all toilets. Run all tubs,sinks, showers for a minute or two. Pour lots and lots of water down a floor drain by the washing machine. Pour water in your slop sink. This could eliminate your stench.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

Are you sure you got a humidifier? For a basement you want to get a dehumidifier. Basements are damp from being underground, no way you want to add more humidity to the air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be sewar smells. There is a trap that dries out which usually blocks the smell. But, if you have not been using all of the drains, they dry out so bad that the sewar smells backup into the house. Drop buckets and buckets of water down every drain in your basement. Flush all toilets. Run all tubs,sinks, showers for a minute or two. Pour lots and lots of water down a floor drain by the washing machine. Pour water in your slop sink. This could eliminate your stench.

This is true but you don’t need a lot of water. Just run the tap for a minute. The trap isn’t very big.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

I think this is probably a misunderstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

I think this is probably a misunderstanding.

Whoops I misstated it. It’s a humidifier attached to an HVAC system installed in a basement furnace room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

I think this is probably a misunderstanding.

Whoops I misstated it. It’s a humidifier attached to an HVAC system installed in a basement furnace room.

Have you had an HVAC company check the humidifier? Could have mold/mildew.

I am surprised you have an HVAC humidifier if you live in the DC area as it's not dry here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be sewar smells. There is a trap that dries out which usually blocks the smell. But, if you have not been using all of the drains, they dry out so bad that the sewar smells backup into the house. Drop buckets and buckets of water down every drain in your basement. Flush all toilets. Run all tubs,sinks, showers for a minute or two. Pour lots and lots of water down a floor drain by the washing machine. Pour water in your slop sink. This could eliminate your stench.

We had a shower in our master bath that we didn't use and this used to happen. We would just turn the water on for a bit. Like 5 seconds or so. And that would fix it.

But OP would know that smell -- it is very obviously sulferish sewer smell.

[Anonymous]

Long shot but, If you have natural gas or propane heat you might want to have that checked asap

[Anonymous]

Try a few containers of Sampras around the place. We had strange smells in old
Built ins. Moisture meter was negligible but even repainting didn’t get rid of the smell. Dampened in the plastic containers worked. I’d also run a large dehumidifier down there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

I think this is probably a misunderstanding.

Whoops I misstated it. It’s a humidifier attached to an HVAC system installed in a basement furnace room.

Have you had an HVAC company check the humidifier? Could have mold/mildew.

I am surprised you have an HVAC humidifier if you live in the DC area as it's not dry here.

Disagree, ours is on all winter when the house is warm and dry.

[Anonymous]

Another long shot since you said someone was living there with children- maybe some sort of spill or pee in the carpet?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - my husband just reminded me that we recently got a humidifier installed in our basement. Could that be it?

I think this is probably a misunderstanding.

Whoops I misstated it. It’s a humidifier attached to an HVAC system installed in a basement furnace room.

Have you had an HVAC company check the humidifier? Could have mold/mildew.

I am surprised you have an HVAC humidifier if you live in the DC area as it's not dry here.

Disagree, ours is on all winter when the house is warm and dry.

My parents have one and it’s so wild to me. All winter it feels like stepping into a greenhouse. But it is very comfortable once you get over the contrast.

OP that’s certainly something to look at. Although like my air handler in the basement has a pump for the condensation to get it over to the drain, and that definitely has gunk in it, but I don’t smell it. It’s just inside the little tube.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will dead mice be discovered in the walls during a gut reno that takes everything down to the studs?

Yes, we found petrified dead mouse and mold when we demo the basement to the studs. Both contributed to the bad smell. We also found small gaps where the mouse was coming in. It's in the area where the foundation meets the house walls. We stuffed steel mesh in the gaps and have not seen mouse since.