Help!!!! HORRIBLE SMELL in only one room in house...

Is it possible you have racoons in your attic? I know a guy who is in animal removal who once told me sometime they urinate in the attic so much people think they have a roof leak.

My husband went up into the attic and didn't see anything in the area above the house. Although we have considered a couple of fox squirrels that run around out in front of the house...we just haven't seen any evidence of a nest or anything. It is so frustrating because at times, unless we keep our son's bedroom door shut (it is right at the top of the stairs) the smell wafts downstairs...it is gross.

Thanks for your input though - I REALLY appreciate any and all help!

We have the EXACT same problem!
We've contacted pest control people because we thought we had rats. We've had contracters and plumbers here, but no one can find the problem! We've had it for over a year.
Please let us know if you've solved the problem!

Thanks k2 for your response. It was helpful to read the posts you mentioned. I posted a more detailed account of our problem.
I emailed the originator of this post, as her problem she described sounds most like ours, but I have not heard from her.
If our problem is pest-related, how come we can't see where they are coming in? Or hear them? Or see evidence? Unless it is in the vent?
I'm thinking we'll just get the heating vents cleaned out anyway, just to see if that helps before we tear into walls.
Thanks again for checking in on this post!

have you recently did any additions to this room Iwould take a sample of the insualtion in the attic, also, I would suggest that you check the drain pan on the a/c system to see if may be stopped and staginated water accumalated.have you checked your sons closet for possible spray cans of either,starting fluids or cleaning fluids of any type. Have you recently installed a new carpet araea near the return vent area using chipcore board as an underlay or any new plywoods which contain formalhyde glues. also, check the vent on the furnace and make sure free and not stopped up; also, does this room have flexible ductwork or does your complete house haave same. some old types of refrigeraton systems contain ammonia and could have a possible leak. are you positive it is not sewer gas. is your water heater gas, and if so,are you sure your dont have a vent stopped or came loose. have you installed a new roof over this area using underlays with formahided glues.

i have the same problem in my sons room. the attic door is in his room and there is an animal up there because i can here him moving around :( the smell of ammonia is so strong its hard to breathe at times. It started today. Yesterday it was fine, and its already horrible. we keep the door closed and you cant smell it anywhere except in that room. Its definately bigger than a mouse, does it sound like a racoon with that much pee smell that fast?

Hi
We just moved into a house and are experiencing the same smell on the top floor only. It was only in the master Bathroom but now it is all over sometimes. it disappears for a week and then come back for 1 or 2 days.
the smell is so strong that we cannot sleep well.

I sprayed Arm and Hammer Stain & odor Eliminator in the AC intakes and it seemed it improved the situation all over but now in the Master Bathroom the smell is strong only.
I have request pest control to come in tomorrow to check all including the attic.
If anybody has new ideas let us know please.

With a simular problem I had I took off a vent cover and found a very
old deoderizer in there when I removed it the smell also left

We have the same problem going on. We had a new furnace installed this summer and it seems to prevail only since I turned the heat on this fall...what's odd is that it's only one room in the house.

Same problem with our house. We had new furnace installed also this past summer and now terrible smell in one the bedrooms upstairs and now it's almost in every room of the 2 nd floor coming from the vent.

Bed bugs can leave a musty odor

Fee are experiencing the same thing. It started three days ago. At first I thought my dog had an accident so I scrubbed the floors and steam cleaned the area rugs. It has happened again the last two nights.
The smell is just in our kitchen and dining room area and comes at night then disappears throughout the day.
I have no idea where to look or what it could be.

We are experiencing the same thing. It started three days ago. At first I thought my dog had an accident so I scrubbed the floors and steam cleaned the area rugs. It has happened again the last two nights.
The smell is just in our kitchen and dining room area and comes at night then disappears throughout the day.
I have no idea where to look or what it could be.

I knew I wasn't going crazy!! I have a smell that I thought may have been a decomposing animal in my attic closet. The smell was so horrible, but we waited over 6 weeks for the decomposition to be over... the smell went away then came back! it was on and off for months when I finally smelled it really strong one morning and called our landlord. He was there within an hour and wouldn't you know... there was no smell at al while he was therel.... it came back 2 days later, but I didn't tell the landlord for risking sounding crazy.call Holanda Since it is summertime now, windows are always open, so its hard to tell if its still there.
Has anyone who experienced this ever gotten an explanation?

Have same problem, Just wondering if it could be due to fungus or mould ... but I'm in Malaysia, damp n humid here ...

Hello. Has anyone on this blog been able to solve their problems? I am now just dealing with similar problems. And I’m about to loss it. No one can give us any answers. Any answers would be greatly appreciated!!!

Yep. That mildewy urine odor appears on my porch coming from outside, from late evening until the break of dawn. It's just nauseating. There is no crawlsspace on my porch. It is flat cement slab.
I shut my porch door at night, because if I don't, half of my home reeks of it.
I have seen some raccoons in the area, but I do not think they have a nest near my home, and do not here activity inside.
I guess no one can answer what the heck it is from the looks of things.
I am guessing fungus, or a bum is pissing on the trees every evening.

Has anyone ever come to any conclusions on this smell issue? We are having the SAME problem & can not find the source! Its frustrating & nauseating! Ughhh!!!

I also have the horrible cat urine smell. Just moved into house and it was here from the first day. Asked previous owner if they kept a cat in that room - no animals ever. On cool days no smell but when the attic gets hot the one bedroom has the smell. Sniffed the walls, the floor, outlets, ac vents, no moldy window sills and it's mostly in the doorway. Nights when the attic cools down, the smell is mostly gone. Could it be mold on attic insulation from a leak in the roof?

I live in AZ and noticed in summer time the ammonia smell, especially when temp raise up to the 113. I think it comes from plastic materials in my bedroom ( a vynil massage table, plastic window decoration, a vynil decoration wall sheet) in winter time smell disappeares.

I experienced the same horrible strong urine smell in my spare bedroom about a year ago, it lasted just over two weeks then disappeared... Last night that smell came back in the same room. I steam cleaned my carpets hoping it was my dog that had an accident- but no, the smell is steadily getting stronger. Just strange that it happened about the same time last year. Any ideas? Suggestions?

We have the exact same problem!! We thought our dog had an accident, but she didn’t. It’s in about 4 rooms in our house and we’ve cleaned the AC pan, have hardware floods, and our heat pump was replaced last year. We don’t know what’s going on, but if you all find out then please let me know!!

I have the same problem in my house in New South Wales. One bedroom only has the smell. I can't find the source. It is hardly noticeable in winter but on hot days it is bad. I installed a solatube in that room to provide more light. I am wondering if it is the material of the solatube that is causing the problem. I hadn't noticed it before that.

Same problem. Strong urine smell. I just renovated my house. New roof, new walls. New concrete fiber board siding. New hardwood floors and carpet. I cant find the source of the smell.

I faced the Same problem at my house. This article helped me to get rid of the lingering odor. This is the link http://brightstuffs.com/diy-ideas-to-deodorize-home/ which you can also check out if you also are facing the same issue.

I’m having an issue too. Feel like I’m going crazy. Scrubbed carpet on hands and knees with deodorizer and nutrilizer and still it persists. My son can’t smell it but it burns my nose, makes me cough etc.... wth am I supposed to do?

We have the same problem that started a couple nights ago. Its in my daughter's room. There is no carpet, her floor is laminate. We checked everywhere in the room and nothing. My husband checked the attic and there is nothing up there and it doesn't smell up there. My daughter's room smells like something is rotting. It seems to come and go and in some areas it seems stronger, but the smell appears in different areas of the room. This is so bizarre and I feel like I'm going crazy!
Are we supposed to contact an exterminator??!!

After reading everybody's comments in this blog, I feel so much relief, I thought I was the only person in the world who was dealing with this mysterious odor. After much research crawling under the house and looking at the centralized area below the room that had the foul odor, we have found out that insulation is an animal attractant especially in extreme climate, whether it be hot or cold. So most likely what all of us are suffering from is in fact animals. For the longest time we saw no evidence of any kind of Critters. And then we began to hear the sound of a rather large animal scratching, and squeaking or whimpering. What was discovered was the animal was between the insulation and the bottom of the house. It was not in our ductwork as we originally thought. But after harboring for such a long time and having babies or inviting other family members in it's cozy little Hideaway, the smell of feces and urine and ammonia begins to permeate your subfloor and seep into your house. Once the animal feces covers a large portion of your insulation it compounds the problem . Cellulose insulation is paper based, but it is also treated with chemicals (borates) that suppress mold growth. Fiberglass does not support mold growth, but it gets dirty, and the dirt grows mold, and it is often paper faced and this paper grows mold. So this being said, can the chemicals in our insulation mixed with pet urine create an even stronger ammonia smell and grow mold? The answer is yes!
So what is the solution? We are still dealing with this, we have found the culprit and now we have to come up with an answer. Our thoughts are to get industrial strength aerosol bombs and place under the house between the insulation and subfloor. We have the ability to do that, not all houses will. Homes that cannot, perhaps just put the bombs under the house. But just as the pest smells permeated the house, I can only imagine the smell of the bomb will too. Then health issues are always a concern with smelling either. However, we are willing to try this & hopefully run this creature out and then begin the deodorizing process. It will be necessary to run an air filter in the house for several days possibly even weeks until we feel the air in the house is once again pure.
Best of luck to everyone out there getting rid of their pest problem. We have been dealing with this for almost a year and it is getting worse as the feces continue to grow bigger from more pest coming in to join its family member. But we say good riddance to them all. I hope this helps.

We have this same problem in our house, and did so when we even lived in a hotel for a while. Not sure if this helps, but I'm almost positive our neighbor in both different situations was cooking or smoking crystal meth. I have two small children and we had to isolate them in there rooms. If anyone thinks this could be it, or have similar experiences please let me know.

Call ghost busters.

Yeah, this is the site I came to when I was searching for an answer on the ammonia smell, I ripped the carpet up and tiled the floor, because I was sure it was the carpet but still had the smell, I cut the section of drywall in the area where the I thought the smell was coming from and I noticed that while I was cutting the drywall I could smell the ammonia from the drywall, so I removed the whole section of wall only to find there was mice living and urinating in the ceiling!

we have resently had our central air system replaced and we’ve also been having an awful urine smell ever since. it’s coming from our bathroom and we thought it was our septic. It’s hard to tell whether it’s coming from the attic or crawl space. First thought is the contractors did something and caused it but then how would I prove such a thing.
I really need your input if you have found the problem. Thanks in advance.

i live in apartment, last saturday my shower in my master bath flooded , they finally came to fix it, they couldn't they had to come back the next day. well they didn't get the water out of the carpet. i steamed clean my carpet 2 , the smell is really bad. i can't figure it out, when maintance comes to fix the problem they said it was someone putting drano or something down the drain. that didn't happen, maintance also checked the apartment above me and next to me. nothing, they said to call back to if the smell was still there. it's so strong , and i have heart issues, so this is not good for me to be in . I've read where they said that there is a p-trap on the sewer pipes, they won't check it out, supposely it's on the roof? i've burned candles, air fresheners, i'm at a total loss on how to get this smell out. i need all the help i can get

Take a vidio of the room where smell is at night.
Do it at a slow pace. See if u see orbs
If u do u have some kind of spiritual force
Which gives of an ammonia smell.
Sounds weird but true .I've been there.

Could the strong ammonia odor be related to memory foam beds that are the big craze these days? I understand some brands put off a chemical odor. I've never experienced this problem before in all my years until now. It seems to coincide with the purchase of new mattresses throughout the house.

I have a new build slab foundation home that I have lived in for just over a year. At the end of last summer I began having an odor in the home. Although the odor was not specifically coming through the air system, over the next few months I replaced the HVAC Unit, the air ducts and vents. I have had the home checked for mold and nothing was found. I do not have pets in my home and I inspected for dead animals in the wall/ceiling/attic all in attempt to locate/remove the odor. The odor is random which comes and goes from day to day and intensifies in the evenings. I have ‘sniffed’ all parts of my home and can not locate an area of entry for the odor. It is best described as an ammonia'ish earthy sweet rotting smell. At times the odor is so strong that I will wake up in the middle of the night coughing and my eyes watering. Does anyone have any ideas of what I am dealing with?

We have the same smell and same situation as the above statement!! Its driving me crazy and cant seem to find where the smell is coming from but I did read, and did notice we have some of those giant elephant ears that produce a flowers growing by the window of said room..although the smell is not coming in from the window rather seems strong at a certain part of the wall and baseboards, the flower on that plant smells like a pile of dead rats...its a Male plant and when it flowers the smell is unbearable!! Can also smell it when sitting on the porch and the wind blows from the side the plant is growing...maybe if u have any of the said plants or any lilly like plant in the room or growing outside removal might be best for a start before you do any major part of tearing the walls down.

My home is occupied by tenants. My tenants reported an odor that comes and go and the odor seem to come in the morning. Tenants described the odor as rotten cabbage and the odor is present only in the top bathroom, which is the master bath. I went to visit several times, but I did not smell anything. I guess it depends on time of day. We have exhausted all possible causes. I have checked plumbing, air duct, gas lines, septic and also did ozone air cleaning. The odor remained. The one thing still to be done is replacing insulation in the bottom floor. There are rodents trapped by pest control and we suspect the insulation has accumulated urine and feces. Home has three floors. The master bath is on the top/third floor.

Just found the smell and it is our light fixture. Rotten fish smell are electrical I found out. Very pungent now can smell it on the fixture so it needed to be out in the garage. That said we had already torn the room apart and it was when we were cleaning the closet shelf up by the light that my husband hollored that he had found the source. It is why that it came and went I think because when the closet light was on it must have been the smell that would linger then in the morning not so bad after it had been off awhile.
Hope it is as easy as changing out the fixture but still my husband headed to the attic to make sure the insulation isn't burnt!!

I'm
not sure if this will help anyone but my son had a foul odor in his house when they first moved in as well... They finally found out it was coming from the seal on the toilet. A plumber came out and blew air into the pipes? and found the leak and just resealed the toilet. Problem solved.

I just wanted to add it to the thread, I was trying to find out if anyone was experiencing the same thing as myself and my husband and obviously a lot of people are! So I’m glad to be not alone but I’m also sorry that you all have to deal with such a frustrating investigation that never seems to really be solved. But I did want to add a few things, for the people that are smelling or noticing a smell coming from the attic or noises from the attic typically might go low rants usually go low to Bill kind of go anywhere cause they are crazy but for the most part if you’re having animals in your attic I just wanted to add to the thread, I was trying to find out if anyone was experiencing the same thing as myself and my husband and obviously a lot of people are! So I’m glad to be not alone but I’m also sorry that you all have to deal with such a frustrating investigation that never seems to really be solved. But I did want to add a few things, for the people that are smelling or noticing a smell coming from the attic or noises from the attic typically mice go low rats usually go low to feel kind of go anywhere because they are crazy but for the most part if you’re having animals in your attic It’s probably going to be bats. And believe it or not they can be pretty noisy especially when it’s getting colder out they start to crawl under insulation if they do not go south for the winter. We had a bad bad problem in our first house which was funny because it was a newer house but an attic fan was installed and new vents were put in that did not have any blockage to keep them out from coming in. So I learned about noises and what type of animals they are they tend to make a scratching clawing sound and will sometimes make a high-pitched squeak or a tick type of noise. And let’s talk about the smell. It is a death like God awful stench is the only way I can describe it. Bats feces called Guam is highly toxic and if it’s hurting to breathe that is a problem, bat poop that contains an enzyme and a bacteria that can cause you to go toxic and become very ill if not die please have someone come in and inspect your attic pull back the insulation if there’s brown droppings and let’s talk about the smell. It is a death like God awful stench is the only way I can describe it. Bats feces called Guam is highly toxic and if it’s hurting to breed that is a problem, that poop contains an enzyme and a bacteria that can cause you to go toxic and become very ill if not die please have someone come and inspect your attic pull back the insulation if there’s brown droppings it needs to be taken care of. The smell I am having is coming from underneath my house in our bedroom in a farmhouse we are renovating we are not living there yet but I suspect it’s probably from a faulty septic system which we have just started to try and uncover so we may have knocked something loose but if you’re having a terrible smell coming from below if it’s not an animal it’s most likely going to be a drain or your system having some type of loose connection. Raccoons do smell terrible as well but typically you will hear them they are not quite creatures and be careful if you come across them, they’re not nice either! I hope this helps somebody I know I can’t give you answers because I’m not there looking at the problem but we’ve been renovating 100-year-old farmhouse for a little over a year now and I’ve learned a whole lot about animals nature gross things you name it LOL good luck on solving your mystery!

I have the same problem too its coming from one of the bedrooms and at first we thought it was the bed so we bought a new one a replaced it and then apparently it wasn't the bed. I cleaned up the room and I found a shirt of mine and it smelled like urine. It was on top of some stuff all the way in the bottom. Im pretty sure I didn't urine on the shirt though. The shirt smelled exactly like how the room smelled. It appears to be only to be in one room. I can't handle how bad it smells.I scrubbed the floor and nothing. It comes and goes. I have no idea where the smell is coming from. Please help!!

I was called out because I am a full blooded Comanche.

They called me because of a mystery smell in 1 bedroom facing east.
She said this smell in a 2nd floor home is driving my family of 5 crazy.
I said you are cooking fish but that’s not the smell
I said someone recently used the bathroom but that is not the smell
I said your using perfume but that is not the smell.
I said I smell your dog but that is not the smell
I said your curtains and all your clothing in this room is the smell.

I said what laundry detergent do you use

She said XTRA-OXI CLEAN

I said change laundry detergent

We’ve been having the same issue. Just figured out it was our whole house humidifier. We typically turn it off once the weather warms up but we forgot this time.

I had the same issue with a flexible 6" duct about a 35' run (very strong ammonia/piss smell). I pulled the whole run and saw some mold all along the bottom. I replaced it and no more smell. Hope this helps.

Our new house of 2 weeks has stinky smelling kitchen cupboards. Then today we smelt a ammonia / cat pee smell. I have researched a little and black mold could be the problem.
Apparently " black mold " can smell like a strong urine smell.
What does everyone think??

I work for a storage facility. In our climate control building we have 1 unit that reeks. I cant explain the smell but it is horrible. The unit has been like this for years. The surrounding units are fine. 3 walls are metal, the roof is metal and the door is metal. The 1 wall that is drywall has been torn out, insulation was replaced and a new wall installed.. smell is still there. I believe it is a spirit of some kind. It isnt creepy but odd that there is nothing g that should cause this smell yet here it is. Now we use it for storage. Good luck with everyone's problem. I have no answer but I do understand.

I had this issue in a house I recently purchased. I moved in in November and never had any problems with smells. I did late one night hear very loud scratching in one return air vent as well as what sounded like scampering in the ceiling above the master bedroom. As this is a ranch hime I thought perhaps the scampering was squirrels on the roof. Other than those couple of sounds I never heard anything else.
In June I started noticing a really bad smell that would come and go. It was localized in my bedroom entryway but I could not find the source of the smell. It seemed to waft through the bedroom once in a great while but never lingered for long.
By July it had become a fairly common occurrence. I sniffed every surface in the room, washed all the bedding, sniffed the mattress and could not figure it out. It was becoming pretty annoying to live with and even my 3 cats seemed to stay out of that room much of the time even though it had always been their hangout spot.
I finally called a critter control company to investigate. Turns out there is an infestation of mice and squirrels in the attic space above the main floor of my ranch home. The mice tend to burrow under the insulation so may not be easy to spot if you are looking for them. Apparently the squirrel nests were easy to spot in the attic. The smell is due to animal feces and urine from the mice and squirrels. No idea why the smell was not constant, but glad to have finally identified the source! Removal of the animals will be done next, followed by possible replacement of any stinky insulation. Mystery solved!!

Ok. I have the same problem. One room. There one minute, completely gone the next. So strange.

The smell is like the mouse house at the zoo. Animal urine, toxic in its strength.

I'm going with the electrical cause answer, even though it smells like urine, because Ive seen that answer a few times now...something in the wire coating burning giving off a urine smell. I'm calling an electrician.

Hi my house developed a horrible smell, I thought it was the drains, and after spending a fortune repairing everything as the ist plumber was not very good, but the 2nd plumber I employed discovered that the toilet vent pipe was not sealed in the roof attic.

The gas smell was heavy on the ground floor. You could not live in the house at night due to the build up. Also the lining of the walls downstairs was chipboard and they also were emitting fumes after high humidity and mold behind the board.

Hi my house developed a horrible smell, I thought it was the drains, and after spending a fortune repairing everything as the ist plumber was not very good, but the 2nd plumber I employed discovered that the toilet vent pipe was not sealed in the roof attic.

The gas smell was heavy on the ground floor. You could not live in the house at night due to the build up. Also the lining of the walls downstairs was chipboard and they also were emitting fumes after high humidity and mold behind the board.

We had a foul urine smell in some rooms and after hunting high and low for the cause we discovered it was actually coming from the paint we had used to paint our walls. We then found out lots of people had experienced the same problem with this paint. The smell was caused by a chemical reaction in the paint, worsened by sunshine.

I have the exact same problem described here...

Wondering if the paint person can advise what paint it was that was the problem?

I'll also be checking all my electric points to see if that could be the problem.

Can't find any mould or evidence of rodents in the property, but will reach out to a rodent expert too.

ANY OTHER ADVICE *VERY* WELCOME.

I also am experiencing a similar experience. For about month I have been smelling a urine odor in my downstairs bathroom. The smell started out mild and continued to get stronger with time as it started to travel throughout the downstairs part of the house and midway at the stairway - which I thought was really weird. Not the top or bottom of the stairway, only midway. Although my kids seemed to smell the odor faintly, my friend says that they barely smell it.
At first I thought that maybe my young son had "splashed" on the walls and floor of the bathroom and the scent was traveling along the downstairs ceiling to the stairways. Yes, it sounds crazy, but I couldn't figure out why midway. I bleached and sanitized the walls, the toilet, the sink, and the floor. The scent did not really go away. I got on my hands and and knees and sniffed the toilet, the walls, the floor, and around the bottom of the toilet and it smelt clean. I stood up and could smell urine again. I looked up, and the only thing above was the exhaust fan. I pulled off the grill from the fan and the smell was soooooo pungent I gagged. There was an extremely thick layer of what I assume to be a mixture of dust and maybe even mold. What's worst is that it had solidified. It was brown/dark brown in color with some areas looking powdery white or gray. It was the most disgusting thing I had seen. We had to a spatula to scrape off the dusty substance. We ended up pulling out the exhaust fan motor (it had not been working and should've been a clue to us as to what was going on). We scraped off the layers of dust all around the housing unit, and I went through and disinfected what I could. I can tell that there may be more in the duct that attaches to the fan, but we are unable to access it. We put in a new fan and the exhaust now works again. In case you are wondering, we were unable to replace the housing unit because it would've involved cutting into the ceiling to remove the old one and reinstall the new one. I would like to say that the smell is completely gone, but it's not. While others don't smell it like I do, I can still smell the faint underlying odor in the bathroom.