How can we get rid of these smells?

[WatchingThemGrow]

Rental #3 has been a bust. A rusted kitchen sink drain pipe dumped dishwasher and disposal scraps into the crawlspace for some time. The pipe has been replaced, and our plumber spread lime around the crawlspace to absorb the gunk/mask the smell. Well, it still smell completely nasty in the 1-story part of this split level. DH stuck a dehumidifier in the crawlspace to attempt to dry out the area. We are hoping dry rotting food scraps will smell better than wet rotting food scraps. What else can we do to make this area smell better?

The other gross smell is in both bathrooms (we can't go into the half bath downstairs b/c the smell in that area of the house is just gagging me.) I don't know exactly what it is, and some people can't really smell it. It's horrid, though, and it may be coming through the drain pipes.

Long-distance LL won't do anything else to fix the issues. We want to stay here for many reasons, but we need these smells gone/remediated without adding extra chemicals. We are keeping bathroom doors shut, but the smell coming up through the floors in the main level are disgusting. Would cooking in the crockpot each day be enough to cover it up without using chemicals? (We have an asthmatic DC.)

[minnie-zb]

Honestly all of your smells are probably related and the crawlspace needs a vapor barrier installed. I can always tell when I go in a house where there's no vapor barrier -- it smells funky and musty.

If you google, you will find lots of info. Maybe your landlord would do this? It can be expensive.

ETA: Are the ventilation areas in the crawlspace open? It is important they are open so the space can breathe (unless you have a crawlspace which is designed to be sealed).

[gatorsmom]

I was going to suggest more lime. If the smells are that bad I think you need something more heavy duty.

We've tried heating up coffee grounds which does help somewhat. Can you pour Nature's miracle all over the floor and then mop it up? Dump some in the crawl space? I think its main ingredient is alcohol, isn't it? Are you sure the floor is the problem? You could wipe down the walls. We found in one of our rental properties that the old lightbulbs and bath fan smelled bad and when they were heated up or turned on, the whole room stank! You could try wiping those down.

As for the long distance douchebag LL, if you have a lease with him and he expects to collect regular rent from you, I'd make it clear that you are going to get this remediated and start deducting the costs from your rent payments.

Sweetie, I admire your diligence, but at this point i'd give your tenants notice, terminate their lease, and move home. No one who knows your saga can claim you didn't try your hardest to find a new decent place to live. Hugs.

[hillview]

Sweetie, I admire your diligence, but at this point i'd give your tenants notice, terminate their lease, and move home. No one who knows your saga can claim you didn't try your hardest to find a new decent place to live. Hugs.

:yeahthat::grouphug:
You've really tried really really hard.

[WatchingThemGrow]

As for the long distance douchebag LL, if you have a lease with him and he expects to collect regular rent from you, I'd make it clear that you are going to get this remediated and start deducting the costs from your rent payments.

Sweetie, I admire your diligence, but at this point i'd give your tenants notice, terminate their lease, and move home. No one who knows your saga can claim you didn't try your hardest to find a new decent place to live. Hugs.
:hug:Thank you! I feel like you did when the twins were born and your DH was traveling so much. (You thought you might lose your mind, right?)

DH is not at all interested in kicking them out/moving back there, though I am tempted to ask them where else they'd like to live around town and pay for their move... He's adamant about not.

I think we discovered before that witholding rent is not allowed, but I'll check on it. The problem with getting anything like a vapor barrier installed is that legit companies won't come over without the owner's permission for legal reasons. DH is crafting a letter to the landlord, and he's pretty good at this stuff. He ripped the apt. complex manager a new one in an email to the owner of the multi-million dollar holding company and copied the town housing officials, who finally came to check it out. It got us a whopping week's worth of rent back, but we felt justified.

After the landlord called me on Fri and told me I'd never be happy here and that we should just move (making me cry) DH called him back later in the afternoon and ended the conversation with the man saying he'd pray for our family.

The smell is coming from the crawlspace, so not from inside the house, but up from under it. We can try more lime. We can try Nature's Miracle. They don't interact, do they?

The fans, yes, the one is old and nasty. Other bathroom isn't built to code and doesn't have one. Maybe we can have that changed out, but I wonder why the sink drains would smell. I want to say it's a "hot, chemical" smell but I'm not good at describing it.

[AnnieW625]

Sweetie, I admire your diligence, but at this point i'd give your tenants notice, terminate their lease, and move home. No one who knows your saga can claim you didn't try your hardest to find a new decent place to live. Hugs.

:yeahthat: as well. I might also look at moving to another part of town and simply switching schools once if you know you are going to find more houses there that potentially meet your needs better than homes that are pushing 40-50 yrs. old and could potentially have more mold issues. I don't mean this suggestions as being unsensitive, but I have never truly been in your spot so I know I completely don't understand all of the issues, but I think I would really try and have an open mind as much as possible about these things. Good luck and just so you know I am always thinking and praying for you guys. Best wishes and always lots of :grouphug: and lots of :heartbeat:.

[minnie-zb]

The smell is coming from the crawlspace, so not from inside the house, but up from under it. We can try more lime. We can try Nature's Miracle. They don't interact, do they?


A vapor barrier is the only thing which is going to fix the problem -- it is not going to go away. I don't think there's any way you can "make" the landlord install a vapor barrier. They are good for the living quality of the house, but I don't think they are required or mandated.

[sste]

How much does a vapor barrier cost to install?

At this point looking at more moving costs maybe you just need to take care of it yourselves, unfortunately, if it is under 1500k or whatever it would cost you to move.

Sorry to hear of this. On the positive side though, what does your DH do for a living? He sounds very talented with people. If he could have an ahole landlord praying for your family at the end of the call . . . well there is a market for that kind of social skill. Keep that in mind.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Sorry to hear of this. On the positive side though, what does your DH do for a living? He sounds very talented with people. If he could have an ahole landlord praying for your family at the end of the call . . . well there is a market for that kind of social skill. Keep that in mind.
:rotflmao: Thank you . He will appreciate the compliment. He needs it. Due to the fact that I can't go into the lower level of this place -past the playroom, he's doing all the laundry, including all the stuff the kids are puking all over this week. He's a rockstar.

[amldaley]

:hug:Thank you! I feel like you did when the twins were born and your DH was traveling so much. (You thought you might lose your mind, right?)

DH is not at all interested in kicking them out/moving back there, though I am tempted to ask them where else they'd like to live around town and pay for their move... He's adamant about not.

I think we discovered before that witholding rent is not allowed, but I'll check on it. The problem with getting anything like a vapor barrier installed is that legit companies won't come over without the owner's permission for legal reasons. DH is crafting a letter to the landlord, and he's pretty good at this stuff. He ripped the apt. complex manager a new one in an email to the owner of the multi-million dollar holding company and copied the town housing officials, who finally came to check it out. It got us a whopping week's worth of rent back, but we felt justified.

After the landlord called me on Fri and told me I'd never be happy here and that we should just move (making me cry) DH called him back later in the afternoon and ended the conversation with the man saying he'd pray for our family.

The smell is coming from the crawlspace, so not from inside the house, but up from under it. We can try more lime. We can try Nature's Miracle. They don't interact, do they?

The fans, yes, the one is old and nasty. Other bathroom isn't built to code and doesn't have one. Maybe we can have that changed out, but I wonder why the sink drains would smell. I want to say it's a "hot, chemical" smell but I'm not good at describing it.

Can you call the city/county housing inspectors office? If thet deem it a health hazard or unfit for habitation without remediation, the LL won't have a choice.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Can you call the city/county housing inspectors office? If thet deem it a health hazard or unfit for habitation without remediation, the LL won't have a choice.
They know me there already, lol. We called them about the other place with sewer gas stench in the bathroom (how did we get another one????) and the maintenance guy not following mold abatement procedures, and they didn't come out for weeks - until the day we were packing up our POD. They weren't helpful as far as I could tell.

[mjs64]

For at least some relief, uninstall the dishwasher and pull it out, cleaning very thoroughly in the space it fit in. When we reinstalled a new one, the smell was awful, awful. The installers said it was very common.

Eta: likely you've already done this.