House smells like sweat - Landlord Forum thread 321888

House smells like sweat by Anonymous on July 27, 2014 @18:53

What can you do about an odor in a freshly painted unit that has a bad smell. I expected that the fresh paint would make it smell clean like a new paint job usually does, but this smells like strong B.O.
We put our noses on the painted walls and it smells like normal fresh paint. The floors are hard wood and don't seem to smell after washing them with murphys oil soap.

Has anyone ever had a strange hard to find odor like this?

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Re: House smells like sweat by I'm not hard of smelling on July 27, 2014 @19:08	[ Reply ]

I've experienced this. The only thing that worked for me was glade plugins, I hate personally hate them, but they do a good job of emitting a constant scent. I've gone so far as to throw a few car air fresheners, the tree shaped ones, down the floor vents so air coming through the duct picks up the scent. The tree fresheners all stink like nothing you'd ever want to smell but they were better than the funk. I've been told you can rent or buy if you have the funds special ozone air purifiers but haven't tried it. Leaving windows open and airing out the place helps tremendously. I have one room in my rental that stinks, it's a utility room with no heat or A/C added onto the property sometime in the 1930's with hardwood floors on a foundation so small you can't even army crawl under it. I'm not sure if it's the old well that the room is on top of that is causing the odor but it is always there. There are foundation vents so I know there is air circulation but the odor is only in that one room. No one else has ever been as disturbed by the smell as me, especially men, and my last female renter never mentioned it at all.

Re: House smells like sweat

Re: House smells like sweat by Micah on July 28, 2014 @09:56	[ Reply ]

A few boxes of Baking Soda divided up on plates in various rooms might help a little to absorb the stink. If there is an AC then clean the filter and run it. It could be a musty smell from too much humidity. You should be able to rent a big air purifier/ozone machine from Home Depot for a day or two.

Re: House smells like sweat by John Brayton (Massachusetts) on July 28, 2014 @11:16	[ Reply ]

If the odor is still there after painting the walls and washing the floors, my best guess is a dead animal in the wall. Does it seem to be coming from any particular area of the house? Another possibility is lingering cigarette smoke, but I would not expect that to survive painting the walls and washing the floors. Have you painted the ceilings? John

Re: House smells like sweat by anonymous on July 28, 2014 @11:51	[ Reply ]

Sounds like my son's smelly room. He exercises like crazy and sweats this stinky perspiration profusely. Can you ignore it or does the BO go through the door? haha

Re: House smells like sweat by Anonymous on July 28, 2014 @12:54	[ Reply ]

I have a similar problem. My prior tenants used a deep fryer and apparently spilled some of the used oil in the kitchen somewhere, and also two big stains of it on the garage floor. Also they threw the fryer away, full of oil, in the city supplied automated pickup trash bin. The bottom of the bin is full of this oil. I hate the smell. So I have to play detective and find the spill in the kitchen, somehow remove the stinky stains from the garage floor (bleach?) and safely get the oil out of the trash container, dispose of the oil safely, and clean and deodorize the can. They also melted the vinly siding with their Bar-B-Q grille. Their SD is going to pay for all this!

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Re: House smells like sweat by Ed on July 29, 2014 @11:18	[ Reply ]

Might be due to dampness. Is there a leaky pipe or drain anywhere? maybe rain water seeping in from the exterior walls?

Re: House smells like sweat by Anonymous on August 1, 2014 @01:00	[ Reply ]

Too bad you already painted. I had my guy put Kilz on all the walls before painting. You may have to pull up carpets and see if the stink is in the floor if it's urine or something.

Re: House smells like sweat by Anonymous on May 1, 2015 @11:18	[ Reply ]

Hi everyone! This might help with smelly houses... Its called the Scented Door Strip. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/760421219/scented-door-strip