Chemical smell! Help!

Mafra

Hi, I'm hoping there's someone who can help please as I'm at my wits end here.
I've got a weird problem in my house that's driving me crazy and literally keeping me up at night.
I've got this recurring odour of a chemical nature in the bedroom. It's like funes and can irritate the throat.
Bought the house last year and have had some minor work done off and on for the last year.
So off and on was blaming things like having tiling done in the ensuite. Then had a little balcony off the bedroom (which wasn't really done properly in the first place) fibre glassed, which smelled like heck and took weeks to leave.
But that all settled down and went away but now out of nowhere, here I've got a smell that I literally wake up in the middle of the night with a cutting throat.
Any ideas what the heck this could be or where it could be coming from please??
I'm desperate!
Also I make sure drains in bathrooms are topped up with water to avoid drying u bends etc.
Any help much appreciated!!!!

eurokev

Could it be due to something on the balcony getting wet now with the weather changing.

Maybe try and get a friend or someone that's not there all the time to follow their nose, it is probably impossible for you now because you've been immersed in it so long.

Hope you are up for the McGregor fight now and that smell isn't waking you at 4am at the weekend

Charlie19

Is there traps on all your appliances?

Is the heating boiler located near the room, its possible that the wind could be blowing fumes from the exhaust back into the room.

denismc

Its really hard to tell from your description what is causing this.

You could try ringing the local fire station, they may have a fire safety officer that could check out your premises, or at least they will point you in the right direction.
The other person you could contact is a building engineer, they may spot something very obvious like poor ventilation.
Have you tried sleeping in a different room to see if the smell is just in the one room? is the smell only at night?
TBH i would be reluctant to sleep in that house from what you describe.

Rancid

Any lights left on at night?
A loose wire, bad connection can cause a very odd smell sometimes described as a fishy smell, an acrid smell that catches in the throat.

looksee

When old pendant light fittings start to deteriorate they give off a horrible smell - kind of fishy. Check the electrics. I had an immersion timer that started to melt inside and it was the smell of that that woke me one night - could have been a fire.

NickNickleby

looksee wrote: »

When old pendant light fittings start to deteriorate they give off a horrible smell - kind of fishy. Check the electrics. I had an immersion timer that started to melt inside and it was the smell of that that woke me one night - could have been a fire.

Had this a few times, then after replacing carpet, I discovered that the ceiling bulb holder was overheating because it was rated 60W and I had put a 100W bulb into it. There's a mistake I won't make again.

NN

Mafra

Thanks for all the replies! Really appreciate it!!!
The house is 6 yrs old. When I bought it carpets were changed and ensuite bathroom retiled and new shower etc. Fitted. There's a bath, shower and 2 sinks in it so a few traps, which I keep topped up with water every so often to avoid drying.
It's definitely just this room as sadly wasn't up for the fight but woke up with a sore throats from smells like paint stripper or something along those lines. It's only been here a couple 3-4 nights now and yesterday I had windows at opposite side of room to balcony open to ventilate thinking it might solve it, pretty much all day. It's only that room as I slept in another room directly over it last night and no such smell.
I'm baffled. I had the balcony fibreglassed late sept and after 2 weeks of the worst smell I've ever experienced it cured and went and back to normal. So it's rained a few times since then with no problems or changes.
Bizarre. 😩

Qwerty?

have you a new mattress? Some of those latex mattresses smell badly for a while

Mafra

Qwerty? wrote: »

have you a new mattress? Some of those latex mattresses smell badly for a while

Nope, have had the bed and mattress before I moved. 😞

intro

We had something like this before. Really strong solvent smell. Could not figure it out.Eventually turned out to be an aerosol can of something which was ever so slightly corroded. The smell was unbeliveable. The joint at the top was just slightly rusted. Took us a week to figure it out!

Mafra

intro wrote: »

We had something like this before. Really strong solvent smell. Could not figure it out.Eventually turned out to be an aerosol can of something which was ever so slightly corroded. The smell was unbeliveable. The joint at the top was just slightly rusted. Took us a week to figure it out!

I don't have anything lying around long enough to blame something like that. I'm still only settling in really so I don't have lots of stuff about apart from clothing. Pratically nothing apart from shampoos and creams etc.
The window open all day today had little impact either. It's there again tonight. Not even going to try sleep there tonight.
It's not stifling just pass through the room but it definitely gets to you after a time. I'm sure it can't be healthy either if it makes your throat sore...

Alun

I know it's hard to describe smells in words, but as someone mentioned above, it could very well be electrical in nature, and if that's the case is potentially very serious.

Go around everywhere anything is plugged in and switched on and feel the plugs with your hand. If they're warm or hot to the touch, there's your culprit. Either the plug or the socket itself can be to blame, so to be certain get an electrician in to take a look, and while he's at it check the other sockets too. Both the plug and socket should be replaced in such a case.

In fact, any electrician will immediately recognise a smell that's caused by melting / burning insulation or other plastics, it would be immediately obvious to them, so if you know anyone in that field, just get them to come around and take a sniff for your own safety.

Mafra

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Just to follow up. So I've discovered what the smell/fumes were...
I went into the garage and was bowled over by the smell of heating oil. Turns out there was a small leak right at the boiler. My boiler is housed in the garage. So anyway what had happened was we had a hole cut in the ceiling of the garage (as there was a leak before) and the fumes must have sonehow travelled through the hole, through the ceiling and all the way into the bathroom bedroom (which is about 20 feet in distance bit directly over garage) but I opened the garage doors, had a builder repair the ceiling, plumber fixed the leak etc and hey presto the smell or fumes dissipated. I'd say it was probably just oil smell otherwise I'd be dead I'm sure but it travelled a heck of a way through ceiling to make its way to bedroom obviously through cracks and crevices. Just goes to show you can't be too careful. I'm investing in CO alarms. Just in case.