Kitchen smell pt 2 - Dodgy lino patch?

[tristan]

Hi,

I recently posted about a suspect kitchen smell in a new (to us) house. Due to the plumbing being unused for some months we initially presumed it to be the drains, and took appropriate action, but we were wrong.

The smell, which is localised to the kitchen and part of the adjoining living room, is coming from a patch of lino situated by where the previous owner's fridge-freezer unit would have been.

A (ahem) nasal inspection definitely has the smell coming from here. Adjoining cheap-as-chips chipboard unit has the same aroma but nowhere near as strong. Lino elsewhere in the kitchen smells like, well, lino. Everywhere else in the kitchen appears just fine. Living room carpet smells carpet-like.

The lino here is slightly elevated (as in can be pushed down) and I note that a (very) small patch of the silicone seal is broken at this point. Probing with my finger tore the lino slightly as well.

The lino does not _seem_ damp but I suspect it has been in the past. Smell not evident during initial house buying activity, but there was a three month gap while all the paperwork was sorted!

I suspect our new action should be to rip up this part of lino to see what is going on down there, but if anyone has any other general tips to follow at this point it would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tris.

[tristan]

To reply to my own post...

I just followed my instincts and looked more closely at the adjoining cupboards. For some reason the cupboards on that wall do not go all the way along to the wall which forms a right angle with it... there is a gap of six inches or so, located next to where the washing machine would go.

I had a peek inside.

I'm not an expert on identification, but there is something about six inches long, brown, furry and very much dead sitting in that space (along with various other dust, crap, wall chips from the kitchen installation).

So this might be the source of the smell :(

I'm not a fan of this kitchen installation, especially so now. Why would that gap exist in the first place? Although the bottom of it is covered, the gap I looked in with the torch is NOT - hence anything could get in there (and subsequently die, obviously).

Gah.

Now to get access to the damn space to clear it out... naturally all the screws are rusted sealed and WD-40 doesn't want to shift it.

[Gordon Henderson]

PlusGas - if they still make it.

Ah, they do! Eg.

[tristan]

Looks like a (very) dead squirrel. Been dead a while so no smell, but I did the "poke test" and, hey presto, there was the smell. So that's our source.

Not sure why the lino several feet away smells though (and not in between). There is no access for squirrel sized objects between the two. But I guess smells can travel in funny ways, as can maggots etc.

I'd like to get the crawl space panel off too just in case there is something in there (!) but think it would be sensible to dispose of our friend first. Again, the squirrel can't have been in there - the gap in which it is sitting only has one exit and that's to the kitchen.

As to how the squirrel got in there in the first place...

[Lurch]

On 15 Apr 2007 01:10:50 -0700, " [e-mail]" mused:

Think I'd have just ripped the kitchen out in a violent manner before fitting a new one. None too keen on dead squirrells as a feature of a cooking space!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its just got wet. At some point.

Probably there is a nasty wet piece of flooring underneath.

Either cut a piece out ready to relay it, or rip the lot up. Let it dry, and put it back down.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well I did say 'mouse' early on in the thread. Many year ago I was a quite habitual, but often too busy to use the gear, photographer, and had two cats.

I had a bad smell too..for a week or two.

It went away.

A month later I lifted my camera bag from where it had stood for 6 weeks parked on the carpet and scraped a dessicated mouse carcase off it. ;)

[Eddy Young]

Isn't it standard practice to replace the kitchen in a "new" house?

On another note, it is interesting how quick a house can degrade in between "sale agreed" and "moving in".

Eddy

[Owain]

You mean things like doors and lightbulbs disappearing?

Owain

[Cicero]

================================ And a very good reason not to pay for any carpets included in the sale. You never know how many of the previous owner's pets have left their calling cards around the place.

Cic.