We've looked for the source but can't really narrow it down. there was definitely rodent infestation when we bought the place, but we did what we could to try to prevent them from reentering the house. My guess is there are dead mice bodies in the walls, but would that continue to smell months/years later? We've pulled out all of the appliciances, gutted the bathroom. Septic was emptied when we bought the house, i just put a call into the company that did it to see if they thought that the smell could be coming from that but had to leave a message. The basement could be the problem, when it rains a lot, the crawl space gets damp and there could be standing water after really heavy rains. It will eventually drain to the sump, but the concrete floor will remain damp until we have a period of dry weather. That's why i'm putting in the dehumidifier to hopefully dry the area out quicker after rain. Any other thoughts or advice that might help. This has been bugging the hell out of me. we want to enjoy this place in the summer and having it smell the way it does will not allow us to.

If you've cleaned it thoroughly, I would recommend using one of these traditional odor absorbers. 1 - leave a bowl (about 1 cup) of white vinegar inside overnight with drawer door closed 2 - leave a bowl of baking soda inside overnight (door closed) 3 - sprinkle ground coffee (3-4 tablespoons) on a plate, leave overnight I've used these methods to absorb orders in trash cans, laundry room, etc and have had success. I've never had to do it in the microwave - don't have the drawer style - but if it were mine, I'd try these.

I don't know what your management is like, but be careful. Our on-site manager is horrible and caters to her friends whom she has knowingly allowed to have 5-6 adults living in a one bedroom apartment. We recently had a similar problem and found there was a huge clog in the system where tenants were flushing those flushable wipes as well as pouring grease down the drains. Management accused me of doing these things even though I've never used those wipes and I don't fry / cook with grease. She was ready to write me up / evict me for denying I had anything to do with any of it.

You may check the water pump and see if there is debris causing it to not drain completely. It may be leaving used water somewhere in that drain assembly. You did not say if it is one of those HE or a regular agitator one. Where there is rust, there is water that is not supposed to be there. I suspect that you have drain water that is/was coming out somewhere that it was not supposed to. Rust is never a good thing to find. Such as it was when my garbage disposal was dripping rusty water the other day. I had to replace it because where there is rust there is deteioration. It was a goner.