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greentofu402

Help! My house stinks!

greentofu402
5 years ago

My husband and I just moved into our first home, a "fixer upper" which was built in 1990. The home was previously occupied by several adults who smoked heavily and didn't keep the house clean or sanitary. They had dogs, and also used the garage to do a lot of auto work (so it smells really bad of oil in there). The entire home has a noticeable bad odor that is hard to describe - like a mixture of smoke, mildew, dust, and something else I can't put my finger on. There is one section of the house, though, where it smells ESPECIALLY bad. It's a laundry room that leads into a small bonus room. Both these rooms are next to the garage, which also smells really bad (namely like oil). This section of the house has no flooring, just the concrete slab.


To remove the odor, we've tried the following things:

1. Opened all doors and windows to vent and air out the room (while running the house fan as well)

2. Scrubbed every inch of the floor, walls, windows, and ceiling using different types of cleaners (vinegar based, ammonia based, etc.). Specifically, we've used blends of vinegar, bleach, TSP, and Simple Green. We've removed lots of dirt, grime, and smoke residue in the process, but the horrible smell remains.

3. Run an ozone machine several times

4. Continuously run a room air filter

5. Replaced the house air filter (twice)

6. Had professional house cleaners deep-clean the whole house

7. Inspected the attic (which is above the laundry room) and saw no major issues there

8. Cleaned out the laundry room vent and wiped away the accumulated lint and dirt off the walls


Nothing came up during the home inspection for this part of the house as far as plumbing or electrical problems.


At this point, we're out of ideas and ready to just tear down and replace the drywall and flooring. But we're afraid that won't even get rid of the smell, but will just cover it up. Any thoughts or suggestions?! HELP!

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