Smell coming from floors??

jammyjam

I recently purchased a first floor maisonette. The property has a smell which has been described as a cross between moth balls and old ladies (apologies to any old ladies reading this). The smell gets into clothes and soft furnishings and is most noticeable at the bottom of the stairwell by the front door. I have been unable to find the source of the smell, but have been told that it could be cork tiles sweating (the floors are concrete with cork tiles and carpeted throughout). I have lifted the carpets, but cannot say if the tiles are the source of the smell or not. I understand that the next door maisonette has the same problem. Has anyone experience of this and any ideas of how to detect it and treat it? Thank you.

marklefty

From your description it sounds like damp to me.

Have a sniff behind fixed cupboards thats usually where it would smell the most.

Any blackend staining on the walls?

black-saturn

Perhaps it's haunted by an old lady

My house had this when I first moved in. I have to open the windows as much as I can and I have a dehumidifier. I seem to always have a tickly cough too.

Wig

What's under the stairs? Can you see or is the staircase enclosed? might be rotten wood/damp under the stairs.

jammyjam

There is no sign of damp in the property which was confirmed by my survey. Anyway it's not a damp smell, more a kind of chemical smell like moth balls. There has been no chemical treatment in the loft. The staircase is wooden and the stairwell has floor boards, but I have had the carpet up and cannot find anything. This leads me to think that the smell is coming from elsewhere and collecting in the stairwell - the lowest part of the maisonette.

jammyjam

"Perhaps it's haunted by an old lady"

Funny you should say that, an old lady did die in there several years ago!

waaag

Its never 'trevor jordache' under the floorboards is it??!!! (Brookside) remember?!! (only joking)....

Is it in the carpets? In my hallway I had a funny sweaty dog smell, it was in the carpets, I made a mix of peroxide, bicarbonate of soda and couple drops of squezy, put it in a spray bottle and squirted it on, it all froths up, left it to dry and the smell had gone in a day. I used 1 cup peroxide, 1 teaspoon bicarb, 2 drop squezy, and it works on cat wee as well. I thought it had come back but it was my stinky dogwalking trousers hung up over the top of the radiator, so that when the heat rose the trousers smell permeated throughout, took me a while to suss it out! I blamed my OH for leaving sweaty socks on the floor....

wigginsmum

What's squezy? I need to try this on cat pee on the carpet.

waaag

squezy is washing up liquid! by the way it works perfect on cat wee, believe me!

jammyjam

Thanks for the advice Waaag! The previous owner had family in the carpet trade, so I understand that most of the carpets were new to him and he had no pets. I had my parent's dogs in there to see if they could find anything, but no joy. The bicarb thing did occur to me and perhaps I will try it. What does the peroxide do apart from bleach hair and where do you buy it?

The neighbour downstairs says that the smell has been there for years.

Help! I bought a smelly flat!!

waaag

Hi jammy jam, peroxide you can buy from chemists in small bottles or hairdressers wholesaler. If you buy a large bottle of 60 vol peroxide from the hairdressers wholesaler then you can water it down a little to make it go further then it would be the strength of a lesser one say maybe 20 vol., but still work. NB forgot to say DO TEST AN INCONSPICUOUS PART OF YOUR CARPET when using the mixture. I have been lucky it did not lighten my carpets or spoil them. I used it on wicker laundry baskets (my young cat though he's been neutered, likes to 'widdle' here from time to time,) I used it on appliances, doors, - other tiddle targets...and its not ruined anything so far!