Moved into new flat. Living room smells of farts.

JackieChang

I've been in this flat for almost a month now. Renting.

I thought it was some remnant of cleaning fluid or vinegar or whatever the landlord used to clean it. Then after a week I thought maybe it was the smell of the new paint, needs a few more days.

Now it's a month and every time I walk into my living room there's a strange smell. I think it smells like like farts. And it's not me. I'd proudly admit this if it was me. Also there's no gas line in the house.

So what can I do to track down this smell?

There is a sofa in the room. Fake suede material.

There's a bookshelf. There's a wooden tv stand and a coffee table. Floors are wooden. Walls are painted. No curtains. Just blinds.

Where the hell is the strange smell coming from? I've sniffed the sofa, but it smells ok.

I'm going insane. Any ideas?

There's a fresh coat of paint on the room. Does paint smell like farts for more than a month?

Stigura

Jackie; Is there a fishing tackle shop anywhere that might stock live baits?

Hqrry113

Have you checked inside the sofa?

s1ippy

https://inspectapedia.com/odor_diagnosis/Sulphur-Odor-Source-FAQs.php

"First let's see if the odor has to do with your water supply: if that were the case, you'd smell the odor when running hot, cold, or both at every plumbing fixture in the home."

?

Dr_Colossus

JackieChang wrote: »

Then after a week I thought maybe it was the smell of the new paint, needs a few more days.

There's a fresh coat of paint on the room. Does paint smell like farts for more than a month?

My guess would be the paint used, I've read that gone off paint can smell like cat urine and very hard to get rid off even after re-painting. Could you contact landlord and ask what paint he used and where it was sourced, if it was stored for years in some shed that could be the culprit.

ExMachina1000

Walls rotten with damp. Tired to paint over it to hide

Hqrry113

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

Walls rotten with damp. Tired to paint over it to hide

Seriously check inside your sofa, cut it open if you have to.

JackieChang

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

Walls rotten with damp. Tired to paint over it to hide

Yes you may be right. How do I confirm this?

Hqrry113 wrote: »

Have you checked inside the sofa?

Hqrry113 wrote: »

Seriously check inside your sofa, cut it open if you have to.

I haven't checked inside my sofa. I will do it though. What am I looking for? Black mould?

Purple Mountain

Hqrry113 wrote: »

Seriously check inside your sofa, cut it open if you have to.

He can't cut open his landlord's sofa!

Danonino.

Purple Mountain wrote: »

He can't cut open his landlord's sofa!

Not with that attitude :pac:

Most likely the paint. Does it smell like stale air? Or.. how do I describe it, em, oh you know when clothes are left for a long time in a washing machine? Like way too long?

I used paint that was sitting a loooong time and there was a lingering stale smell for quite a while.

NSAman

Had the same issue, turned out was the glue on wood floors.

Had the same issue in a different apartment turned out to be the sofa (like many have said).

Lots of fresh air and keep the place cool, solved the issue but it took time in both cases.

JackieChang

Danonino. wrote: »

you know when clothes are left for a long time in a washing machine? Like way too long?

I used paint that was sitting a loooong time and there was a lingering stale smell for quite a while.

What did you do to fix it?

440Hertz

Could be many things. However if it's a smell like rotten eggs you need to get the place checked out and also keep your windows open, as that is indicative of sewer gasses getting in through a dry or missing U-bend trap somewhere.

We had a situation like this in an apartment in Dublin and it turned out someone had installed a stand pipe for a washing machine, without a trap and it was letting gasses in from the sewage system in the apartment building.

The job was done as if they were connecting to a simple gully drain in a house. Whoever did it hadn't a clue about plumbing!

Hqrry113

JackieChang wrote: »

Yes you may be right. How do I confirm this?





I haven't checked inside my sofa. I will do it though. What am I looking for? Black mould?

I'm winding you up man don't cut open your sofa haha

listermint

Smelly paint won't disappear. For months or perhaps never. A bad paint will hum the place out.

If it was newly painted that's the first place I would point the finger.

Give three coats of a brand new bargain basement white and see if it solves the problem . Then can paint whatever colour match it was meant to be

JackieChang

I think I need one of those experts from TV to come in and check the state of my house. Who can I call for a quick check of the room? A painter decorator?

looksee

Have a look at the light fitments. You occasionally get a bulb holder that has perished and there is a smell off them like bad fish.

JackieChang

looksee wrote: »

Have a look at the light fitments. You occasionally get a bulb holder that has perished and there is a smell off them like bad fish.

Before I go mussing with the light fitment, is this a real thing? I feel like this is one of jokes like "glass hammer" or "long stand".

Lumen

JackieChang wrote: »

Before I go mussing with the light fitment, is this a real thing? I feel like this is one of jokes like "glass hammer" or "long stand".

It is. Google smelly light fitting.

I would move the sofa out of the room. Either the smell will come with you, in which case ditch the sofa, or it won't, in which case you can sit in the hallway without the smelly living room bothering you.

listermint

JackieChang wrote: »

Before I go mussing with the light fitment, is this a real thing? I feel like this is one of jokes like "glass hammer" or "long stand".

It is a thing but generally attributed to quite old light fittings.

Have you considered however if your intake of guinness might be high ?

looksee

Hmph! Its definitely a thing, I spent ages trying to track down a horrible smell in a room and that was what it turned out to be!

Dufflecoat Fanny

Could be a dead mouse stuck somewhere. Their stink lasts for months. Check around pipes that get red hot that's where I had one under floorboards before.

Dufflecoat Fanny

Or could be a scuttery jocks in the couch

Blondini

Can you post a pic of the smell?

Man with broke phone

Pick up the couch and shake it, does it sound like theres a poo in there?

KaneToad

Hqrry113 wrote: »

I'm winding you up man don't cut open your sofa haha

Turn it upside and cut into the underside. A neat cut on one side won't be noticed. You'll be able to get a good look inside to see if there is anything that could be causing the smell.

AnRothar

KaneToad wrote: »

Turn it upside and cut into the underside. A neat cut on one side won't be noticed. You'll be able to get a good look inside to see if there is anything that could be causing the smell.

From the op

Where the hell is the strange smell coming from? I've sniffed the sofa, but it smells ok.

So by a process of elimination they have excluded the sofa.

MarkR

Are you renting? Have you mentioned it to the owner?

Staplor

Could you move stuff out of the room, could you stand the sofa in the hallway for a day?

Start eliminating objects

ExMachina1000

Man with broke phone wrote: »

Pick up the couch and shake it, does it sound like theres a poo in there?

This man has the most credible theory in my view.

Danonino.

JackieChang wrote: »

What did you do to fix it?

I remember buying a smelly candle and airing the place but..... I also remember repainting the room

smellyoldboot

Lay off the cabbage dude.

Atlantic Dawn

Have you any idea when the flat was last rented?

.anon.

Firstly, make sure you're not sitting too close to yourself. Also, try and find out whether the previous tenant left on good terms.

But seriously, contact the landlord. You're (presumably) paying them a lot of money every month and this should be their DIY problem, not yours.

gozunda

Farts consist primarily of nitrogen, methane and hydrogen along with a significant amount of carbon dioxide. Farts can also be rich in sulfur, which the digestive system breaks down into compounds called sulfides. 

Presuming you're not suffering from a bad case of flatulence yourself OP. Then maybe check your drains and waste pipes for possible blockages or build up of organic matter and gases.

As a general treatment- get some soda Crystals and add a cup to your sink, toilet, shower drain etc.

If you have a washing machine - then check it and the drain as well.

Repeat at one weekly intervals and keep your flat well ventilated.

6541

Following

Hqrry113

The landlord would have not rented the place out with such a bad smell in it, the smell is most likely originating from the OP.

Yyhhuuu

I had a problem with odour once in a property, it turned out that an access cover on a sewage pipe was taken off and stuffed with newspaper. I bought a correct wavin pipe cover for it in Woodies. The sewage pipe was had a wooden cover over it. Could this be a problem?

Vita nova

Bad smells often follow construction work on a building especially where work has been done on sewers or anything that connects to a sewer, toilets, baths, WHBs etc. The builder/landlord is often unaware that there is a leak from the sewers before covering up the work and it can take a certain time for the smells to make their way through the cover.

chooseusername

.anon. wrote: »

Firstly, make sure you're not sitting too close to yourself. Also, try and find out whether the previous tenant left on good terms.

But seriously, contact the landlord. You're (presumably) paying them a lot of money every month and this should be their DIY problem, not yours.

Check the curtain poles for rotting fish.

Was the smell there before the radiator was changed?

facebeard

tphase wrote: »

it's a real thing, I've had it happen. I reckon its caused by using bulbs that are too powerful for the fittings. A lot of lamp fittings are rated for 60W - in my house someone liked to use 100W or 125W bulbs, overheating the fittings and making them stink like piss and farts. Thankfully CFL and LED bulbs means those days are gone....

I with tphase, I had this a year or two back with an electrical wiring fault. The immersion switch was over heating, strong fishy smell,also with an old light and the plastic overheating.

https://www.gacservices.com/blog/outlet-smell-like-fish/

ednwireland

tphase wrote: »

it's a real thing, I've had it happen. I reckon its caused by using bulbs that are too powerful for the fittings. A lot of lamp fittings are rated for 60W - in my house someone liked to use 100W or 125W bulbs, overheating the fittings and making them stink like piss and farts. Thankfully CFL and LED bulbs means those days are gone....

one of those round glass light fittings the plastic bit that holds the bulb and the glass bulb screws into just started stinking after 15 years ridiculously strong fishy smell

Uncle Pierre

I'm just commenting on how the OP said in the very first post that he'd be proud of the smell if it really was from his own farts.

There's a man who appreciates the important things in life. :D

I have a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend that rented a place once.

They had a horrible smell in their sitting room, and they couldn't figure it out. So they bought a load of bottles of white vinegar in tesco and put them in a spray bottle. They doused every thing, specifically anything fabric, in white vinegar.

I was told the smell of white vinegar will overpower anything else for a day or two as it lingers around, but they said that when the smell of the white vinegar had passed, the other bad smells went with it.

Could be worth a shot.