Bad smell in house - any professional I can hire to help source it?

[Anonymous]

Have had a weird / bad / not right small in the house for a long time. It comes and goes. I can't smell it once I've acclimated / been home for awhile. Sometimes when I'm gone for the day and come back it is there, but not always.

It does not smell like musty air, does not smell like trash. It is maybe a bit stale and bitter. And definitely not any kind of normal smell. I cannot figure out what it is or where it is coming from. It it throughout the house (small house).

We have a dehumidifier and it has the house fine from that perspective, and again, it doesn't seem like that kind of issue.

Is there any type of professional that can come help me try to figure out what this is?

[Anonymous]

Whenever I go away for a few days in the summer, my home also has a strange smell (kind of like boxes). I believe its rotting fruit/veggies b/c when I get rid of those, the smell seems to go away.

[Anonymous]

^^That will be $595 plus tax, btw.

[Anonymous]

Rats nest in walls

[Anonymous]

Do you have old potatoes in your pantry? I had been smelling an odd smell in my kitchen - it would sort of waft in and out. I would just catch whiffs of it every now and then, it wasn't a constant smell. Could not figure out what it was. Then my dog dragged a bag of potatoes out of the pantry and it left a stinky trail of liquid on the floor. Some of the potatoes in the bag had gone bad. Yuck. After that, no more smell. Thank goodness!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rats nest in walls

or even one dead mouse will cause an odd, unpleasant odor

[Anonymous]

Google "rotten potato smell in house". Apparently it's more common than you would think.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone!

Will look into the potato smell. I have actually had that and it was disgusting, they fell back behind the storage thing in our makeshift pantry area. I'll go see again if anything is back there but it doesn't smell like I remember the potato incident smelling.

Re: rats. Ugh. So... Do i call an exterminator to check for this? I have a (bug) pest control contract; I'll call them to see if they can come check things out.

It's unpleasant.

[Anonymous]

Most old houses are smelly because they aren't well sealed and have damp foundations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most old houses are smelly because they aren't well sealed and have damp foundations.

Sounds like tear down guy, changing tack slightly.