Help me locate this smell!!

silver17

I'll start by explaining the layout of my home here:
As you walk in the front door, there is a very small laminate area where I keep my shoes and coats. To the left is the door to the lounge, in front of you is the staircase. The kitchen-diner is accessed via the lounge, also through another door. The bathroom is at the back of the house also, at the top of the stairs/above the kitchen.

I always keep all internal doors closed, whether I am home or not.

Now, to my issue. Sometimes, on entering the house, there is a really bad smell in the "entrance hall". The lounge occasionally does smell near the front window but nothing as bad as the hall. The kitchen never smells, and it has even been there when the kitchen bin is empty - besides, there are two doors between the kitchen and front door. The bathroom doesn't smell either nor do any bedrooms. Even the staircase doesn't!

This smell is limited to almost exclusively the hall.

Shoes aren't dirty, nothing in coat pockets, I mop the area a few times a week, and I never turn on the radiator there as it isn't an area I feel needs it as I only pass through it quickly! The last time the radiator was on in there was 2-3 years ago, well before this smell started.

It smells like something died, or like something is rotting.

There is a downpipe right by my front door but water flows down it freely and there's nothing blocking the drain.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

Thank you so much for any help!

teaselMay

Is the floor concrete or floor boards?

born_again

What sort of flooring?
Could it be it is wet underneath.

Try turning rad on. We have one fitted in hallway between outside side & inside door & it has actually reduced heating costs. Also stopped damp carpet & door mat smells, as it dries the area out.

JohnB47

Do you have an under stairs cupboard? Had a look in there? Could be a mouse has got in there and popped it's clogs, or maybe somewhere else (under the floor boards if it's a suspended floor). How long has this been going on - when did it start? If it is a wee tim'rous beastie the smell will eventually go away.

silver17

teaselMay said:

Is the floor concrete or floor boards?

I don't actually know - the kitchen and hall have never creaked at all like floorboards would, but the lounge (between them) does massively as does literally every room in the house!

silver17

born_again said:

What sort of flooring?
Could it be it is wet underneath.

Try turning rad on. We have one fitted in hallway between outside side & inside door & it has actually reduced heating costs. Also stopped damp carpet & door mat smells, as it dries the area out.

I don't actually know - the kitchen and hall have never creaked at all like floorboards would, but the lounge (between them) does massively as does literally every room in the house!

It is just laminate, which is kept clean, no carpet (and I have a strict no shoes on carpet rule for rest of house). Wondering if it may be the doormat now actually. It's one of those super rough ones rather than carpet - would that be a potential suspect??

silver17

JohnB47 said:

Do you have an under stairs cupboard? Had a look in there? Could be a mouse has got in there and popped it's clogs, or maybe somewhere else (under the floor boards if it's a suspended floor). How long has this been going on - when did it start? If it is a wee tim'rous beastie the smell will eventually go away.

Under stairs cupboard is accessed in kitchen, in there is my meters and a bit of junk. I have to go in regular due to the meters and never smelled anything bad at all in there. As mentioned, the smell doesn't appear on the staircase either - I'd imagine if it was in the cupboard, the stench would easily be in the kitchen and on the stairs and landing as well.

I did consider a rodent dying under the house or floorboards though. I've no idea what is under the flooring (except no basement) or how they'd get in as there are no gaps from outside anywhere. I rent so can't just pull up flooring... Also, I get enormous chunky spiders so not really wanting to let them out to roam....

subjecttocontract

For starters I'd probably do the following:
1. Check the door mat.
2. Check the radiator......turn it on, bleed any air out of it, look closely for leaks from rad' or pipes. + check if anything has fallen behind the rad'.
3. Peel back the laminate by the front door and radiator. If water has got under the laminate it might cause a smell. 

Albermarle

How long has it been going on?
We had a sudden unpleasant smell appear in a bedroom/home office. I traced it coming up through the floorboards and assumed it was a dead rodent/bird. Eventually it faded away after a few weeks.
If your lounge is a suspended floor/floorboards, then most likely your hallway will be as well. Not all floorboards creak, ours hardly do at all.
Have you checked the airbricks are clear ( the ones outside that let air under the floorboards).
If the floorboards/joists in that area are damp/rotting/fungus on them that would probably smell pretty bad as well. 

silver17

subjecttocontract said:

For starters I'd probably do the following:
1. Check the door mat.
2. Check the radiator......turn it on, bleed any air out of it, look closely for leaks from rad' or pipes. + check if anything has fallen behind the rad'.
3. Peel back the laminate by the front door and radiator. If water has got under the laminate it might cause a smell. 

Someone else made me think doormat, will give it a proper sniff in a little while.

Rad hasn't been on in 2-3 years, so didn't feel need to bleed it and there's obviously no leaks, nothing is behind it.

I rent so unsure on peeling this back myself in case I can't get it back down, a request to my LL/LA would be a final resort

silver17

Albermarle said:

How long has it been going on?
We had a sudden unpleasant smell appear in a bedroom/home office. I traced it coming up through the floorboards and assumed it was a dead rodent/bird. Eventually it faded away after a few weeks.
If your lounge is a suspended floor/floorboards, then most likely your hallway will be as well. Not all floorboards creak, ours hardly do at all.
Have you checked the airbricks are clear ( the ones outside that let air under the floorboards).
If the floorboards/joists in that area are damp/rotting/fungus on them that would probably smell pretty bad as well. 

Nearly a year, but very on and off. Not limited to wet weather.

Oh god please don't judge me but I didn't know those things were called airbricks OR what they were for. How do I properly check these are clear? They've never looked blocked from outside and I've never looked at them in depth. I have a bit of a crazy neighbour so I am now considering that this person has placed things in the airbricks.... Bizarrely, this is now turning into a more logical explanation than rotting floorboards or damp doormats!