Remember the mysterious smell in my kitchen cabinet?

13 years ago

I forget when it was........last year, maybe?.........one of my lower kitchen cabinets was emitting an unpleasant smell that seemed animal-related. As I recall, I removed everything (which wasn't easy, as it's a corner cabinet filled with rarely-used stuff) and found nothing. The smell eventually went away.

Now I have a similar problem with the same cabinet, only this time the smell isn't mysterious. It's unmistakably urine. How bad is that!?! I definitely have to pull everything out again, but I'm dreading it. I'm probably even less flexible than I was last year, plus my knees have gotten bad. But even worse, what am I going to find?? Eeek.......

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Comments (19)

kacram
13 years ago
EEEK! is right!
I'll send Wanda right over to help you! lol
Pieonear
13 years ago
I hope you have someone to help you because that sounds scary!
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alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
I was thinking of attempting to bribe my granddaughter (with her favorite foods) to come and help me....
socks
13 years ago
Definitely get help. Do you have a crawl space under your house, or are you on a cement slab?
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
Most of the house is on a basement--a dungeon, really, dirt floor, pretty awful--but this part of the kitchen was added on later, and is not over the basement. Looking outside, there's just concrete visible. Must be a concrete slab. I didn't think that sort of thing worked in the north, where ground heaves happen every year.
wanda_va
13 years ago
Excuse me, BratKat...you will send me over????? I wasn't happy when I had to clean black bear poop off my front porch, so I certainly don't want to go on a urine smell hunt. But thanks anyway for thinking of me. LOL
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
Gee, Wanda, I was counting on you! I was just looking over my wine rack to see what Kat you and I might enjoy after you we cleaned out the cabinet.
donna_oh
13 years ago
Good luck!

Brat Kat is at it again--LOL

Donna (^_^)
lindyluwho
13 years ago
Quick, call your son. That's a job for him!

Linda
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
13 years ago
Now I have a similar problem with the same cabinet, only this time the smell isn't mysterious. It's unmistakably urine. How bad is that!?!

Mouse urine? I'm guessing that once again you won't really find anything, and that the bottom of the cabinet should probably be removed to see just how something is getting under it to do its business.

In looking around outside, do you see any significant cracks in the concrete around the edges? I've always heard though that there are but 2 kinds of concrete...Concrete that's cracked, and concrete that is going to crack.

You might try asking about the problem at the link below.

Good luck. I too have fought critters and smells before and know it is not fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Houses Forum
hayjud_mn
13 years ago
Do snakes pee?
Oh, that wasn't nice of me! The thought of a mouse is bad enough, but a peeing snake is too much to go after!
LOL
maire_cate
13 years ago
I have nothing to add except my sympathy!

So sorry you have to deal with this. Do you think you need to put out some mouse traps? I don't know how you can keep the cats away from them though.

Maire
joyfulguy
13 years ago
Snakes'd get rather large if they held it in, I imagine.

Alisande ... have you tried air freshener?

Definitely try to palm the investigaive job off on some family member(s), I'd say.

Or anyone else that you can rope in?

ole joyful
Cherryfizz
13 years ago
Ooh that isn't good. Wonder what type of animal it could be? I would definitely be getting an exterminator out to see what it could be.

Bwahahahah @ Kat and Wanda

Anne
User
13 years ago
I could be a mouse or rat. I had that mysterious odor this week and DH had to pull the bottom boards off the spa in the bathroom and there it was. a dead mouse.
chisue
13 years ago
Wonder when that kitchen addition was made. Hmmm...what year did Jimmy Hoffa disappear?

Could this be on a crawl, but one with no access from the cellar? Is the floor cold in winter? Are there any heating ducts under this part of the floor? Any vents to the outside? Any access to the outside wall from the attic -- mouse fell down in there and died?
murraysmom Zone 6a OH
13 years ago
joyful, I was thinking Fabreeze. Sounds like an icky situation that needs someone else's help to resolve it. alisande, how much wine to you have? Can you have a party and get everyone drunk and turn it into a game? With prizes?
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
I have 31 bottles of wine at last count. That oughta do it, huh? Actually, when you mentioned wine, my first thought was that I could set out a saucer of it (kinda like beer for slugs, you know?) and get the critter feeling mellow before I embark upon the destruction of its nest.

Quick, call your son. That's a job for him!

LOL! My son, who is so willing to help me with just about anything, hightailed it out of here when he heard about the situation. I think I heard him mumble something like "Good luck." Or maybe it was "Oh, yuck." :-)
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't know when Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, Chisue, but I doubt he's still peeing. LOL

I'll have to inspect the dungeon basement for holes, etc. I haven't seen any "official" access anywhere. The floor is cold in winter, but then all the floors are cold in winter. The walls are solid hemlock planks (c. 1850), not like a modern hollow wall.

But animals are often smarter than we are. Heaven help us if they all had opposable thumbs!

Remember the mysterious smell in my kitchen cabinet?

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Remember the mysterious smell in my kitchen cabinet?

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