apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Wait. Your dog communicated to you that this was what he was trying to accomplish by leaving for a week?
Amazing!

I had something like this going on when I first moved into my home and someone suggested the garbage disposal might be the culprit. Here's what I did and the smell went away (although you might not even have a garbage disposal).

Run very, very hot water down the garbage disposal and squeeze the juice from several lemons down there (go ahead and cut up the lemons into smaller pieces and throw those down there too). I suspect white vinegar would work just as well.

Hope that helps.

I had a weird smell in my last apartment that I just couldn't explain and it came out of nowhere. I was desperately sniffing around to see where it was coming from. I can't even describe it, but it stunk. I wish I had good answers for you, but Maxwell's seem about what I did. I also bought one of those "odor absorbers" which, although not dealing with the source, at least helped somewhat with the stench.

I was going to say the drain/garbage disposal as well. They even make these little things called Plink that you drop in & it's basically a concentrated lemon juice gel that does the job.

The other thing to consider is if the smell is coming from under the fridge. The vents that blow the exhaust air might be dirty or there could be something under there as well.

A classic weird NYC smell, that's also gross and I'm sorry to bring it up but..., is dead mouse odor. If you're unfamiliar, it's easy to be stumped and think, huh? What's that? Wow, it's getting worse. Etc. Etc. If you're familiar, as I sadly am, you run screaming like the girl you are (and call your brother or some other fearless sort to find it and clean it up.).

Me again.

Do you think this smell could be a result of the radiator heat that we have in the apartment?

Maxwell and Jocelyn have excellent ideas, as does everyone. My only experience of the kind was in DC when they renovated the house next door. All the little mice came to our house to get warm. They died. It was awful - pungent. So you might consider doing doing as Maxwell suggests - basically pulling everything away from the walls, cleaning everything, etc. and then consider a dead animal in the floorboards or behind the walls. Are there restaurants near you? And, if it is inside, while bleach is not terribly great for the environment, bleach kills just about anything. Bleach your place to death and keep windows open if its not a smell that comes from outside. Good luck, I know how annoying this can be.

I had the vent problem....had an earring fall down a vent, so when I pulled the cover up and went to retrieve it, found the WORST smell ever and a little dried up dead mouse. Amazing how much crud gets down in the vent.

I had the same fishy problem and the odor just about drove me crazy. This started when I moved in and we're not big fisheaters so I knew we weren't the culprit. I finally asked the landlord and he said the previous tenants would leave dried fish in the kitchen drawers!! And they lived there for years so the smell had amassed a lot of strength. I had put down new contact paper but that really didn't work. The smell did fade (this took about a year) and finally no one else could smell it.
Good Luck!

An old neighbor of mine once had this problem ... and oddly the smell got worse whenever the fridge came on. It turned out that a mouse had crawled in underneath the fridge where the motor was housed (probably to keep warm) and died ... and every time the motor kicked on, the smell got worse!

dead rat in the walls. call the super. he'll get to it eventually.

jocelyn, dani--you read my mind. dead rat/mouse/something in the wall or in the floor. could be behind something as well. call the super.

oooh- i think it's the radiators - i had the same smell for quite a while last winter. i covered up the problem with the really technical solution of putting dryer sheets in the radiator spaces. otherwise, the permanent solution was to have all the rads sand-blasted and repainted. which makes a new nasty smell -
mmm... catalyzing spray paint!

One time I had a really bad beer burp, but kept it quiet. When my wife smelled it, I blamed it on a foreign stench wafting in from the open window. She totally bought it.

I came clean a few weeks later, and she still gives me grief about it.

It might be time to start keeping a log book of who is doing what when that smell starts up...

Or you could listen to the other sensible suggestions.

It could be dead mouse/mice or the trap in the dishwasher. If it gets clogged with garbage it smells fishy(dead mousy).

Have you tried washing your coochie?

Julie, I don't think it has to do with radiator heat, but if you smell it more when the heat is on, it may have to do with the heat rising - air from somewhere else - sort of thing.

As for you SMILEY, let's try to keep at least ONE thread this week civil, so we don't have to wash your mouth out with soap. ;-)

i agree with the dead mouse theory, it is an unmistakable odor. check behind and under the fridge, ask the super to pull out the stove, don't do this yourself, as the gas line could be affected. if the smell is constant it's the mouse, if it comes and goes it could be the neighbors, Maxwell can't you remove offensive posts? you know who i mean.

One other thought -- in our old apartment we had this problem on an occasional basis and it turned out to be the result of an ongoing problem with leaky pipes inside the wall, as well as flooding resulting from some problems with the exterior of the building. It might be worth finding out if there is a history of flooding or plumbing problems in your bulding, particularly with tenants whose walls border yours. If that is the problem, the fix is up to your landlord. Good luck!

I'm betting it's the fridge. A lot of fridges have a little drain hole at the bottom that empties into the condensation pan underneath. Fridges are notorious for these godawful smells. If the fridge is older, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have repairman come and clean the coils, etc.
The other thing is the sink drain - my mother (and her mom, and her grandma...) sprinkles baking soda around the drain, and then very slowly pours distilled white vinegar which causes super-bubbly cleaning action. The idea is to let the mixture sit in the drain for at least a few hours (or overnight), then run very hot water to clear. Works like a champ (the bathroom sink and shower drain could use this too).

Totally, baking soda. It's a good habit to pour a little down the drain every time you wash dishes. I keep it in the fridge and freezer, as well. Won't help if it's a dead critter in your walls, of course. Nosegay?

I love reading all the helpful hints about dirty, stinky smells. Yeah I agree with the drip pan under the fridge. Mice breathe their last in them too. Also with the garbage disposal (for those lucky few) or drains- go old momma old school: Pour bleach or ammonia in them.

Do you have an electric kettle? We had one of those and it acquired such a bad fish odor we had to throw it out. Took us quite some time to figure out that was the source, too.

Vanilla extract is a great & easy way to get rid of odors.

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet, but...do you have any enemies?

There's an old urban legend (check out snopes.com) about a man who took revenge on his ex-wife and her new husband by stuffing shrimp into their curtain rods. The smell got so bad the couple had to move, and they never figured out where it was coming from. ;)

Hope this isn't the case.

when you pull out your stove. check by the gas line, and electrical plug; do you see a mouse dropping? I have seen an instance where a mouse crawled into the back inner lining of the stove, burrowed in the insulation for warmth. and then died (when the stove was turned on again?) regardless, the stove was trash. smell gone.

Omigod! That happened to me last year - I rented a house (in North Carolina), the electric had been turned off and the windows left open, and when we arrived, the electric had just been turned on..... a couple of days later, we started smelling this godawful smell and then several days later there were these HUGE flies all over (I must've killed 200). I finally tracked the smell down to the stove - dragged it outside, disassembled it and there was a dead SQUIRREL up inside the back panel, wrapped around the electrical junction box! Poor thing! I felt awful about it, but see, that sort of thing happens all the time......

One note on the mouse theory---have you seen water bugs in your building? (you know, the 3 inch long monster cockroach-looking things) Because if you do, you don't have mice---mice eat waterbugs. Disgusting subject, sorry, but you learn these things when you live in the city...

Having grown up in a basement apartment on Houston Street, I can say for sure that mice and waterbugs will co-exist (sadly, we had both from time to time). But I have heard that mice and rats don't live in the same building, so if you have mice you can at least be grateful that you don't have rats. Can anyone confirm or debuke that urban legend?

one time i left a bag of potatoes in a cabinet and forgot about them. the brown juice from the rotting potatoes was one of the worst things i've ever smelled. it's right up there with decaying mice!

Your dog, they have a gland in there ass if he is a male, not sure about females, my dog has it, and it stinks, but seriously check your dog ask your vet, it might have to be milked, serious

Everytime after we shower the smell coming up from the drain is awful. We have tried bleach drano and other products, but no luck. What can we do? we use tilex to clean the shower, and I don't care for that smell either, but it cleans the best, I thought maybe that be the culpret.

We had the same problem and thought it was coming from inside our fridge. We cleaned out all the leftovers and washed it out. The smell remained and was getting worse. One day I noticed the smell seemed to be emitting from the side of the fridge. We pulled it out from the wall and, lo and behold, discovered a mouse had gotten trapped in the floor (old house, gaps between boards under fridge area near wall), the carcass was lying next to a heating pipe and, well, you can guess the rest. My husband had the lucky job of removing the and discarding.

This can be an electrical problem. I had an unidenfiable fish smell in my house. Apparently some wiring (especially in old homes) will give off this smell when it overheats- check your lights and othe electrical devices. or better yet call an electrician.

Waterbugs. They leave a strong fishy odor because they live inside the pipes in the walls. We had the same problem in our apartment...we tried baking soda in the fridge, power washing the garbage can, leaving mouse traps all over the place thinking it was mice. Waterbugs feed off of waste, garbage and any other filth leaving that nasty stench. Call an exterminator: no matter how nicely packaged those "roach killer" kits are, they don't work on waterbugs. 500244

Help. At my sons B-day party I smelled the fishy odor. I thought it might be a bad diaper but the next day I smelled it in my loft, foyer and front hall in 2 distinct places. I still do not know what this is from.

I bought my house last year and did not have a problem with the smell at all in the beginning. I had a terrible problem with Waterbugs and had it exterminated but the bugs would not go away. Then in the fall I noticed a terrible fishy smell that got worse when the heat was on. I tried baking soda, vinegar, hot water, drain openers and bleach. The smell would not go away and the waterbugs were terrible in the basement. I was embarrassed by the smell of the funky house. Last weekend my cousin suggested I pour ammonia in the basement drains. A friend said to add bleach (the two are toxic together so be careful). I did this and not only are there no waterbugs, the house smells nice! I am having friends over this evening.

We've located the 'dead mouse' smell at the top and back of the stove. We've just about dismantled the entire stove and CANNOT find the carcass. Anyone have any idea of how long the smell will last or a way of getting rid of it without pouring bleach or vanilla into the hole?

just moved into a new place and had baaaad fish smell in the kitchen.found this site and just had to post and say-we threw the fridge out(cause we think) and washed, like drenched the whole kitchen everywhere(except ceiling) in white vinegar and the smell has gone with the vinegar! (3 days ish)tried lots of expensive cleaning products before hand,vinegar was the last resort, so, try vinegar

have you ever heard of "fish odor syndrome"? its a rare metabolic disorder where a faulty enzyme causes the buildup of a chemical called TMA, which smells like dead fish. the smell will come out through a persons sweat, spit, urine, and other body secretions...and unfortunately, most people who have this condition cant even smell themselves so they dont know how bad the problem is until other people start avoiding them. maybe someone living in your apartment might have this disorder???

hi there,
had same problem in my flat in uk - it was due to from faulty electrics!!!! I got an electrician to check it out and problem solved (not expensive - replacing fuse wires did the trick) hope this helps

SO, I was experiencing this problem for the last few weeks. It only happened at night, and it happend on certain days, not every day, and it always appeared in different parts of the room. HOwever, I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT...

so it happens at night, because thats when you'd turn on lights. There is a light that i rarely turn on because i very rarely read before i got to bed, and that light had a 100W bulb in a 60W socket. The 100W bulb was melting the socket, creating a burning smell, which morphed into something smelling like fish as it floated about the room. I took the light bulb down, and immmediatly the smell went away.

CHECK YOUR LIGHTS!! i ifigured mine out! hope you can figure yours!!!....

As of now, my husband and I are trying to find out what the heck that fish smell is coming from our pantry. So far there is no sign of any mice droppings. But where the heck is he?

I've got a similar fishy problem but it's not in my whole house, its just in my bedroom. Like last night we went to bed and the smell wasn't there but when we turned the light out and started cuddling to go to sleep, the smell started! It's not mega mega fishy, but it's definitely there. The thing is, that I can't see it being the lights or electrics cos it only comes every now and again. I can't see it being something dead because we spelt it for the first time a couple of months ago and it comes and goes...surely a dead smell would have gone by now? AND we haven't had any work or paint done. We live in England in the middle of nowhere with no fish or market or anything nearby. I've asked my neighbours and they don't have the smell! PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks for this posting I finally solved my own "fish odour" ghost!

We just moved into an old house 3 months ago and every once and a while when we came home at night the patio smelled like dead fish. It’s an enclosed patio and with windows that are open, but screened. It doesn’t smell outside of the patio or in the house. It only happens at night and we usually notice it upon returning from errands, but at no fixed time.


After reading this posting I found the culprit: It was an old outlet-to-light-socket adapter in the outside light fixture! So when we went out to run errands and left the porch light on, it would heat up and get stinky by the time we returned!! I haven’t tested it yet, but I took a look at the adapter this morning and it’s very yellowed at the light socket and smells like fish! Goodbye adapter and (hopefully) fish smell.

London calling. And nowhere near`the river.

I have just moved in and the fish/dead rodent whiffs come sporadically in two rooms. I have been on my hans and knees sniffing like a deranged bloodhound. Nothing from the old carpet (same in both rooms. Not even around the edges. There is thin sheet board over the floorboards which i am loathe (?sp) to get into.

My latest theory? PAINT! I may be going crazy but the walls i occasionjally sniff and they are faintly reminiscent in places of the specific odour that plagues me. Both rooms were magnolia'd in haste prior to sale and i have even located the remainder of the tin under the sink. Looks and smells normal. Dulux (for whatever that's worth). Can't find anything i can decipher as a sell by date. Maybe i'll try painting a test piece of something .

Has anybody any positive id of paint as culprit??

I came here via Google looking for help with a SMELLY CHEESE odor emanating from somewhere in my kitchen. I thought it might be a dead animal in the crawlspace, which freaked me out. I knew I'd have to call someone in to remove it, cos I just do not have the stomach for that. But then I read others talking about mice getting caught in refrigerator motors, and that when the fridge motor ran, the smell would get worse. That was my problem, but it was smelly cheese rather than fishy. Anyhow, I very reluctantly got on my hands and knees in front of the fridge with a flashlight. What I discovered was that the pan underneath was the culprit. Now, a mouse could have died in it, cos the muck was quite disgustingly brown sludge-like and lumpy. I'm not sure. But I thought I'd post this to help inform others. Your fridge might just require simple maintenance on a more regular basis. Personally, my fridge is about 15 yrd old and I started looking for a new one a few weeks ago.

I'm having the same disgusting fish problem and I live in a studio, so it's everywhere and now people are telling me that my clothes smell. It's literally driving me insane. I figured it was probably a dead mouse somewhere or something, but the weirdest part is that I can't locate a particularly smelly part. I've been down on my hands and knees smelling everywhere and no one place is smellier than another. Did others find this too? I didn't check the pan under my fridge, but it's a new fridge so that would be weird for it to be that...otherwise, I'm thinking it's in the walls or floorboards. For anyone who found it was a dead animal in the wall, could you smell exactly where it was coming from?

Just reading all this, and would like to help(having the same problem myself) and would just like to suggest to people that they go to better lengths to describe the smells they are having difficulties with. My tuppenceworth, is that and electrical overheating/melting smell is more like a 'fishy' smell and can be identified by trying to figure out what appliance triggers the smell(in my case the shower). Whereas a dead animal smell, well I'm not sure but, I imagine, and gather from the above, that it is more of a rotten cheese decaying odour.
So don't be afraid - describe those smells!

i have a similiar problem.
i thought it only came when we uses our shower stall. so i avoided using the shower cleaned out hte drain with a snake, even poured a very heavy duty drain opener-cleanser down the drain. the smell is still there. its baffling and quite embarrassing since you smell the smell as soon as you enter my meticuliously clean home. i dont know from where its coming and its like a rotten onion smell help!

The answer my friends has already been identified. The smell is emanating from a plastic (white usually) light socket base that an incandescent bulb is burning. To get rid of the smell replace the socket base with one made of porcelain and or replace the hot bulb with a flourescent bulb that does not heat up. Aparently the plastic material may contain fishmeal in it's chemical composition. If you don't believe it just smell the base of your light socket.
If you need to see a picture of what I'm talking about check this picture out, it's porcelain but the stinky ones are made of white plastic composite material;
http://www.randgsupply.com/images/warehouse/electrical/50090.jpg

I recently used some Drano crystals to clear a slow-running kitchen sink drain (worked well). I've never before noticed an odor problem when opening a drain, but now I am getting a heavy acrid odor from the sink drain. I have tried bleach, white vinegar, and hot tap water to no avail. The smell is getting into my clothes a little and I am not sleeping well because of it. After reading these posts, I will try some pots of boiling water. The next thing I try will be ammonia. Hopefully this will clear the problem, otherwise . . . ?

we have the same, but we dont know what it is!

try this!

If it's any consolation, my smell just went away on its own. My was a terrible, fishy smell more like that of decay (imagine the smell in Chinatown or near the wharf but magnified by 10 and on a sunny, humid day). I am pretty sure it was something dead in the wall between my bed and the entry way because stuff seemed to smell the worst near there (i had a coat rack in the entry and noticed that my coats seemed to smell). I have since washed the majority of my clothes and all of my bedding, and I don't notice it at all anymore. It took about two weeks for it to disappear. No one else in my building ever smelt it.

I had the same problem in my finished basement. We were getting an intermittent heavy fishy odor near the big screen TV and printers for the computers. After reading this post, I checked out the electrical sockets, and one of them was hot enough to cause a serious burn. Turns out the socket is faulty, and we were drawing too much electricity due to all of the equipment. If you have these symptoms I recommend taking action right away. The problem is serious.

I have just moved into my home and am very worried, the whole house has been re-wired and a new kitchen has been installed - infact most stuff in the house is brand new and fresh, walls, windows, central heating, bathroom etc..... everytime I turn the oven on however to cook a strange fishy smell appears in the air, could it be because its a brand new oven and the smell will wear off after a while of using or could it be something else, electrics maybe? It's driving me nuts, please someone help me!!!

the fishy odor you are smelling is electricity arching in your lights, switch, or a part of the wiring. It is dangerous and should be checked by eletrician.

We have had this problem for over a year. And I never considered the electric.
Seems to permeate 2 back bedrooms that we have had electric work done in...
I was afraid it was an animal--after 2 pros said they can't find any evidence,I was perplexed.
Will check out the electric tomorrow.
The smell comes and goes...

There is a smell I can't really identify coming from the toy room in our basement. It slightly reminds me of sewage. It is def. not a drain or sewage problem though as I've the smell is not coming from bathrooms. I've cleaned the room top to bottom and keep fabreezing in there hoping to mask the problem. I keep window open as much as problem but it's getting too cold out for that. As soon as the room is closed up the smell returns. I keep hoping to find a dirty diaper or a piece of rotting food somewhere but no luck. The smell has been there since mid-fall. I know there is a mouse living in between the walls (but that's another story) and am working on a way to get rid of that. I think it comes in the dryer vent. I'm wondering if the smell is mouse droppings? Do they smell? Is it mouse urine? This doesn't smell like urine. I've wondered if it's kids' road hockey equipment in the toybox but I don't think so....hockey equipment has a smell quite unto it's own and it doesn't smell like the odor I'm dealing with. We don't have baseboard trim in the toy room so I'm really thinking that whatever the smell is is coming from within the walls and wafting out at the bottom opening where we're missing baseboard trim. Recap - skanky, musty, slighty sewerish, odor that I can't put my finger on. Can anyone help?

Fishy smell...

What type of lighting does the kitchen utilize? In some cases, the wiring used in certain lighting fixtures consists of fish oils. Yes I know it sounds odd, but so does a kitchen that always smells like fish. Check your lighting, it usually occurs once the wires heat up.

Man, who knew SO many people had smelly houses? Wow! We have had our share too. Our last house's kitchen smelled like something had curled up and died. We finally traced it to the garbage disposal. We tried EVERYTHING we could think of to put down there, but in the end, there was no solution but to replace it. Whew, relief! Then in this house, a few months ago I kept smelling something so horribly FOUL and death-like. I couldn't pinpoint it, and then I realized that there was a potato in the basket that had been there too long and had begun leaking that nasssssty brown "old potato liquid" that Liza referred to. GOD that stuff has the most vile stench!! (Now I have to Google it just to see what the heck it is - Ugh). Anyway, I used some boiling water to clean the basket and the smell was gone. Thank God for that.

we had fish in the fridge go bad, instead of throwing it out I grinded them in the garbage disposal and scrubbed my fridge out and now the house smells like bad fish and the fridge is no better.Please help!!!!It's none of the answers you suggested.

I have lived in this apt. for 3 and a half years, and we USEd to have a mouse problem, but since we blocked the space under the front door with wood, no more mice-mice free for 2 years.(the apt was renovated-no holes etc when we moved in) HOWEVER, something recently has definitely crawled into the floorboards or walls and died (downstairs neighbors say they have them-) landlord came over drilling 5 big holes int he wall to try to eliminate it, but to no avail, couldn't find the carcass....so we have to live with this right? until it goes away? how long exactly does this take, it's cold outside, do things decay faster in summer? the smell permeates one side of the entire apt -every room-it's horrid. we were diligent to get ride of our mice years ago, so i know its not in our apt, but it must be somewhere int he walls or floor and no way to get to it?
any suggestions on how to eliminate the odor?

We have recently moved into an older style house in the uk - the toilet stinks of fish....the loft hatch is in the toilet, we have been told it could be a dead mouse or rat but we are afraid to go into the loft (dark and scary) the smell seems to come and go and gets stronger the more you hang around. I am going to go home tonight and check the light fitting but does anyone have any other suggestions to what it could be?

Thank you for the insight in your forum. The arching and fishmeal was the smell... we unplugged the home depot light dimmer switch adapter extention wire that we had plugged into the socket and the smell is gone. We never thought of this thx u. We thought it was a everything else or a ghost too as the smell was around for the past 4 mths.

oh my gosh! someone else has mentioned the butt gland in dogs! and yes, steve (although you posted this a year ago) girls doggies have it too! it's disgusting!!!

the smell like fish or very pi**y is caused by your electric we had this problem in a cupboard by the front door it was caused by the shower supply switch melting check all your sockets for signs

We actually cooked fish last week (baked actually), and although we have cleaned our house top to bottom - the fish smell is still everywhere. It's drivng me insane. Do you think I have to clean the walls and cabinets with vinegar (that's a huge job!)??? Please help.

The smell of fish has bothered myself twice and my mother once, It has been a different thing each time. The first time was we could only smell stale dreid fish when we were in bed. It was the lamp, we had a 100 watt buld in a 60w fitting.

The second time it turned out to be the drain under our sink, alot of food particles build up there, plus any oils of what you might eat.

And last at my mothers it turned out to be air slowly escaping a radiator.
All of these smells came and went, and i had done alot of research over all this and here is what i have found out what it can be.


Faulty electricl switchs or fittings.
Putting high watt bulbs into low bearing plastic sockets

A dead animal usaly a mouse or rat in house or walls
Stagnent water from drains in and outside the house
Radiators

Its better to make a log of when you smell it and what time, where was you when you smelt it and what room eliminate one by one.

Sorry also dont forget when rodent go to die they go to stay warm.

Fridge motors are a common place, and the smell will come and go because the fidge motors heats up when cooling the fidge/freezer and a fan kicks in when it gets hot to cool it down, so the fan blows the smell around. also washine machines dishwashers cokkers etc etc
Goodluck

An odor that comes and goes and sometimes there is a dry dusty taste.Oil burner has been checked. Oil hot water heater was checked. Sanitation is being checked. Now what else should I check. This is driving me crazy. Iy happens every day and sometimes it is ok and sometimes not. Is it the lights? Socket? Refrigerator? I don't know. Could it be the new long lasting lights? HELP PLEASE

I am finding a dead mouse-ish smell coming from the heating pipes in my bedroom. The scent is strongest where the pipes enter the wall. There is a little grill and my prick super said he can't smell anything and I must be imagining it.

I have duct taped the grill shut but it still stinks. How long will it take before the rodent dessicates? I think I have to wait for a drying out time.

I am a migriane sufferer and some odours trigger them. This odour is intollerable to me and I have had to sleep on the sofa.

The super had the gall to blame my pet pigeon for odour and this bird doesn't smell.

anywho, thanks

I had the same smell in my closet, it was disgusting. It was the lightbulbs! My lightbulbs had a glass cover over them and when i removed it...out came the smell. I looked it up on the web and found the answer from another lady that had the same problem, she said it was her lightbulbs also. So try switching your lightbulbs and cleaning the cover if you have one.

Hi Julie & y'all
omg ! I totally had the same thing in my house,it was a lightbulb,how wierd is that ? Like a fish/catfood smell driving me nutz. I thot it was a mouse or something & asked the local council fellas to come out & check it [ just act all helpless & gurly it SO works ;-) ].
They reckon wif the new rat/mouse poisons that u dont get a smell 'cos the 'lil buggers dry out (kinda mummify).
Anyways sumone at work mentioned lightbulbs,i left one on at a time in the smelly area & bingo ! So changed it (new green stylee of course !) & fingers x'd seems to have dun it .YAY ! so gud luk xx

Thanks originally to Julie for starting this! We have been plagued with a HORRIBLE fish smell that wakes us up at night starting 14 months ago when I moved into the condo. Because of the longevity, we knew it wasn't an animal decomposing.
Thinking it had gone over spring/summer, it started up again when we turned on the downstairs heating unit in November. It's got to be in the socket/wiring of the downstairs heating unit; unfortunately the HVAC system pumps the fish smell throughout the home.
Therefore, my entertaining has been at a standstill in cold weather. Electrician has been called. THANK YOU!

recently the smell of death has taken over my house in chapel hill, NC. the smell originated as an unpleasant odor in the livingroom and the hallway on one side of the house to an omnipresent and downright putrid smell, inside and outside, in a matter of days.

coincidentally, the smell came about at the same time a pipe behind the wall started to leak. based on the insightful comments in this thread, I thought the leaking water may have been activating the smell of dead mice and their droppings behind the wall. at first it was reasonable to think that this was the case, that the smell was emanating from the wall, or that it came from the rotten milk carton in the recycle bin in the kitchen, or the water left over in the washing machine in the hallway.

however, yesterday I hired a plumber to fix the leak and there were no dead mice and no scent in the wall. the milk carton was cleaned out and the washing machine was dried out. the plumber suggested a mouse died somewhere in the HVAC system.

last night I took a whiff of the air vent in my room and became momentarily convinced myself that a rodent died in the HVAC system. that would explain why the smell was everywhere in the house, but it didn't explain why the same smell was potent on the front porch. after much deliberation, I decided to call a local animal removal company. I let them know that there's a dead animal on my property and that I don't know where or what it is. they sent someone over in 20 minutes.

the source of the smell soon became clear: an opossum died in the crawl space beneath the livingroom. the bad news followed: the crawl space beneath the livingroom is too low to access and remove the opossum. a deodorizer bag was put up in the crawl space, along with humane traps to catch other opossums, but the deodorizer bag does nothing to eliminate the smell. I have to live with it for several weeks. oh well! I'm glad that the smell was identified and that it's possible that its peak strength has passed.

We live in a tri-level and had a stink problem a couple years ago. Smelled like dead rodent. It was coming from inside the basement wall on one side of the room. I finally narrowed it down to about a 3ft by 4 ft area and opened it up.I found a dead chipmunk. Now we have the problem again...5 years later..I knew I should have investigated a little further to find out where they were getting in...I heard some of the rodents moving around up in the ceiling. I have a theory. I think that one of the little rascals killed the other and dumped the body down the wall.

I live on the top floor of an apartment building and just a few days ago I walked into my bedroom and caught a whiff of something nasty. My bf and I had just finished scrubbing the house from top to bottom so it was really strange that there was a disgusting smell in the house. It was a mixture of stale air and fish food. I've narrowed it down to the steam coming out of the radiators. When the heat is on, the stench is present.

What does this mean? What are my options? I haven't asked anyone else in the building if they are smelling the same thing or not. Does the Super need to drain something or clean something? I'm clueless and just want to breathe freely again!

You say you are smelling a fishy odor when you snuggle up in bed? hmmmm. That's not good. Well this may sound strange but when you drool on your pillow alot it can leave a funny smell which can smell a bit fishy I guess. I had a boyfriend who left this smell behind on pillows. At first I was sniffing everywhere trying to find the smell and thought maybe he needed to go wash himself but found the drooly pillow to be the culprit. lol. Weird.

It's the bulbs. . .we were getting this fishy smell in several areas of the house and it was driving us crazy. We sniffed and sniffed and sniffed until our noses led us to the lightbulbs in several areas of the house. Crazy!!!!

my parents had the same problem (i'm having it in my newly renovated house now). the fishy smell turned out to be coming from the light fixture that attatches to the roof. Apparently the material used in these comes from Korea and was manufactured by using fish bones somewhere along the line! whether thats true or not the problem was eliminated by changing the fitting.