If it is a smallish dog I will be ripped..seeing we have a leash law here and I don't own one. Of course my neighbor (behind me) does own 4 Pugs and one of her little ladies is quite the Houdini getting out under the fence- although she gets out it's really not often. But still I have to wonder, seeing this is not just one poop, but one of many that are in my yard and were in different stages of well, lets just say deterioration. Which would mean she would have to get out at least once a week and poop on my lawn everytime, which I find to be a bit unbelieveable. What made me curious about the rightful owner (of the poop) was that my hanging basket if nesting material had been ripped down and there was a rock hard poop on it, made me wonder if the owner of the poop was also the culprit of tearing down the nesting material. So when I went to the back of the yard to check on my wren house I saw this one- fresh as a daisy which made me realize this was not just a one time shot. Hmm.

Having just spent $189 on a service call, I hope I can help someone avoid the same cost! For three years, since we purchased the machine, I have had the same "swamp smell" ntermittently. I have asked repeatedly for answers/suggestions from Miele, but didn't receive any answers. Yesterday, the technician examined everything very closely (everything was perfect). The likeliest cause was too much detergent, which leaves a residue on the dishes, glasses and the seal which causes the dishes and glasses to smell. Someone above mentioned the same thing. If you look carefully in the detergent dispenser, there are three marks: 20, 25 and 30 ml (I believe). Unless you have very dirty dishes, use the smallest amount possible and set your "rinse aid" dispenser guage to one (located in the rinse aid dispenser cavity). Gradually increase the amount until you find the right mix. I'm hoping this is the answer. I have been trying it and it seems to be working. Interestingly enough, I also purchased some Miele detergent (@ $21 a box for 80 packages). This amount seems to actually be more than I would have used with my Cascade. Also, they recommend not using Electrosol. Also, try doing a "sanitizer" wash every once in a while with no soap to clean the interior of the machine of any soap scum. Hope this helps.

If the shower hasn't bee used in a while it's possible that the trap has dried out, allowing sewer gasses into the house. The trap can be primed by pouring a few cups of water down the drain. These odors can be continuous or intermittent, they can vary based upon wet/dry cycles, or high/low barometric pressure weather systems moving through your region, or gusty/calm winds, etc. In winter some vent stacks can ice over, restricting flow. Birds sometimes build nests inside the rooftop vent too. I've never seen a nest in a vent, but I have seen iced over vents. As to the fireplace smell, depending on the envelope of the house and how well the damper seals itself, you can get air "cold stack" reverse air flow down the chimney. This can bring "wet chimney" odors into the house. Or dead animal odors. Fireplace odors can come and go depending on air flow, they don't necessarily have to be 24/7. Remember that the anode rod is a sacrificial rod, it's there to prevent the tank itself from undergoing decay. If the rod has been completely eroded, the tank may start eating away at itself.

We had a tornado shelter installed in our garage floor about 3 weeks ago and now our house has a terrible damp earth/woodsy smell throughout. The company says they've never had any complaints from homeowners of smells after installation. Do you have any idea what could be causing this and whom should we call to eradicate it? I don't think we have critters in the walls or attic--wouldn't we have heard something or wouldn't the stench be more like rotting meat?