I live in a mobile home and have just moved in. My question is there is a smell in the house that I cannot seem to find. No, it does not smell like a dead animal. It is an odor that just does not smell right.
The house was closed for awhile, how long I do not know. Does anyone know how to attack this head-on? I am in the process of putting a coat of Kilz on before the color. I do not think this is helping. Is there someone who can help me or is there a service I can contact that can educate me or help me eliminate the odor? I think at times this is making me nauseated or something. Please someone help me out.
By Stephanie Peterson from Tavares, FL
The culprit might be in your heating ducts. Check underneath for a hole in the insulation of the ducts and see if an animal could have crawled in and got trapped, I know of this happening before.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Last summer, I notice a musty type, sewer, rotten egg odor coming from the kitchen sink. The smell kicked in my children's allergies. Sometimes I notice the smell in the hallway from the bathroom to the back door also.
Had anyone had this issue and know how I can solve the problem?My guess is that there is no drain system air pipe to let out smells from all the drains in the mobile home. Do you find that at least some of your drains run slow sometimes? Without the air pipe, a vacuum can sometimes form in the drain system, causing slowed drains. An air pipe usually goes out through the roof or right alongside the home, and is usually white PVC pipe of 2 to 3 inch diameter, and might have a screen and hood over it to keep out rain and critters.
Since this is a mobile home you will probably not have the same type of plumbing 'system' running through your house as a regular house would have and what year your mobile home was built will also make some differences in the system.
1.) Do you have a septic system or are you connected to city sewer lines? This answer (yes or no) will make a BIG difference in what could be causing your 'odor' problem.
2.) How old is the mobile home?
3.) How long have you lived here and have you had any water or sewer problems?
4. Do you have children that could be overusing toilet tissue (or other things?)?
5.) Do you use/flush 'disposable' wipes of any kind? (Big issue with a septic tank and also with a mobile home drainage system).
6.) Are any of your drains running slowly?
Answer the questions for yourself and you may be able to determine what needs to be done as all of these things can contribute to your problem.
Some older mobile homes have insufficient drainage systems that may have curves/bends from different parts of the home that will slow down and slowly clog the lines. Also, older mobile homes may have used different types of drainage pipes than new homes and could be causing problems now.
I would suggest checking for odors outside first and then go from there.
Try doing a good cleaning with every drain including bath tubs/showers. Pour a cup of baking soda in drain, then pour a cup of white vinegar to drain; wait until it stops sizzling. Then have a full kettle of very hot water (faucet hot water is usually not hot enough) (be very careful carrying hot water from place to place).
Pour the water SLOWLY in the sink/tub and then leave it untouched for at least 30 minutes.
This is good even if it does not solve your problem.
If someone in your family (or previous owner) have long hair you can order an inexpensive tool that can be used to remove hair from drains. I use this tool about once every 6 months and really like it. Sold in stores and online at many stores.
www.amazon.com/
www.walmart.com/
If you own your home, I would suggest trying any suggestions provided by other members also before having to call in a 'specialist' as any service call will be expensive.
Please let us know if you find a solution that worked for you as your answer may help someone else in the future that is having similar problems.
The horrible musty type, sewer, rotten egg odor coming from the kitchen sink in your mobile home is called hydrogen sulfide. It has no color, is very flammable, and extremely hazardous and toxic. This problem is described here: www.mobilehomesell.com/
Beneath your kitchen sink, there is a plumbing fixture called a P-trap. The purpose of this P-trap is to capture the debris that drains from the sink, prevent clogs and prevent gas leaks from entering your home. A good P-trap is between 2 and 4 inches long.
When the P-trap is empty of water or has been cracked, it may leak this musty type odor.
You need to clean it up. Of course the plumber will handle this. But you can try to clean it up yourself first. You need a hand snake for it (you can buy it in a hardware store).
Find a stopper under the kitchen sink.
Unscrew a pivot nut which is connected to a drain pipe and remove the stopper.
Insert the hand-snake down the drain and crank the handle. This action will grip onto everything clogging the trap and clear it.
Repeat this action several times.
Then clean the stopper.
Do not flush the items down your toilet, as that could cause another clog.
You can also try pouring boiling hot water down the drain.
Another option you can try is using vinegar or baking soda or chlorine bleach. Pour each ingredient into the drain separately and allow to sit it in the drain for approximately two hours at a time. Never mix bleach and vinegar together as it can create an extremely toxic chemical.
Check the P-trap for any damages. Do not forget to place a bucket or container beneath the P-trap. Find a pair of coupling nuts that attach the P-trap to the sink. Safely using a pair of pliers, remove them. If you can not get the coupling nuts to move, or if they simply fall apart, or if the P-trap is cracked, then you will have to replace the P-trap.
Call your local plumber to replace the P-trap or do it yourself.
Remove the coupling nuts and detach the P-trap from the sink. Make sure that a new P-trap is a minimum of 1 long. Place the new P-trap in the proper position beneath the sink, and attach the coupling nuts.
I live in double-wide mobile home in Central Texas, the Waco area, where in the last few weeks we had 16" or more rain. I live in the country in a field where there we always have rats, mice, etc. that also get under the house, so I keep poison under there. Now an odor is coming thru the floor vents which is a combination of dead varmints, but also is more stagnant smelling with water from all the rain in short period of time.
My son in law removed 2 sheets of underpinning and then covered with wire so cats and dogs don't go under there and swarms of mosquitos also came out! He did not see any large critters, but there could be rats. He saw a few snake skins which is not unusual here. I know mosquitoes breed in standing water and there are still several big puddles around the property, but not that close to house.
I have lived here 11 yrs and never had this problem before, but in a 24 hr period we had 11 inches of rain have had addional the last few weeks. It is probably not over. It was 84 degrees on Tuesday and lowest has been 44 so far. I have septic system in back yard and it hasn't been pumped in very long time, but ground doesn't show signs of mushiness (lot of rock in soil here). I need helpful advice on how to get rid of the odor and any other suggestions to dry out. I have already filed an insurance claim because of roof damage and leakage in my house. It has just been smelly for a week now. The mosquitos will die soon. 1 piece of underpinning was removed on the southwest side (we have lots of wind from southwest) and another piece from the northeast side. Would having septic tank pumped even though the ground is not mushy help? Thanks for advice.
sprinkle old coffee ground s over area , be generous , Can buy inexpensive coffee and sprinkle it aroungd ,
I suspect there is standing water or at least mud under your house.
Certainly you need to pump your septic if it is time to do that. It doesn't matter about the ground being rocky or whatever. It can make you sick.
You may need to actually sandbag your trailer to keep water from running under the trailer. If this is too difficult or cost prohibitive, maybe a small trench can be dug that will make the water run away from the trailer and not under it.
Lime will a eliminate odors.I know there are two different kinds of lime .One is used for whitewash,The other a barnyard
Lime.The Barnyard lime will eliminate odors of any kind.Call your local co-op Or feed store.
I live in a mobile home. I have lived here for 3 years and now I have a dead animal smell in living room. Never had a problem like this since living here. We have looked all in the area that the smell is coming from and found nothing. Had the outside and under mobile home checked and found no dead animals. Not sure where this smell is coming from, but need help getting rid of smell. Will coffee grinds still help eliminate oder? Where else should I look to find where smell is coming from?
i have the same problem n still cant find what is causing it!
It's not something I can identify. It is nothing I've ever smelled before. I live in a single wide trailer, you know, the generic, run of the mill kind, they used to make back in the day. The kind with ugly brown shutters. I keep getting this odd smell that isn't something dead or rotten. It doesn't smell like must or mold. It doesn't smell like gas or a chemical. I don't know what it is. I'm not even sure how to describe it. It reminds me of microwaved chicken nuggets that aren't quite right. It has a sour quality to it, and perhaps a hint of bad breath. Weird, I know. It doesn't smell bad per say, more that I just can't stand the smell.
My husband doesn't seem to notice. The trailer we rented before this one was a few lots down in the same trailer park and I smelled it there too. I notice it indoors more than outdoors. I thought maybe it was the soil (we have a natural spring that runs under the yards) or something in the walls. I feel like I'm going crazy and I don't know what it is, where it's coming from, what to do about it, or if I'm even really smelling it (I am.) Before we moved into this trailer park I never smelled anything similar before. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?You may have rotting vegetation under your mobile home. Clear it out and see if things improve.
Did you get this resolved? I ask because we just went through this with our kitchen sink. A weird smell. Turned out, I had a sinus infection and it was just me smelling it. My husband never smelled it and it was so frustrating. You said it doesn't bother your husband, but does he smell it. My first hint with my issue was he didn't smell it. I thought I was going nuts! 10 days of antibiotic later, no more smell. It was me all the time. It also explained the headache I had for the week I kept smelling it--I thought the smell was CAUSING the headache..turns out...it was a symptom from it. The doc said that what I was smelling was basically infected mucus. Sorry for the TMI. I know EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! That was how I felt, but I am better now!
It maybe build up in your sink drain or a water leak. Does it smell like mildew? Place bowls over the sink drain to see if the smell lessons. If that helps replace the trap pipe ( pipe with curve). You'd be surprised at how nasty them pipe can get!. You could use a snake to remove the build up but putting in a new pipe is better. Place DampRid around your home if it's a mildew smell. Have someone cool seal the roof or patch the leaks.
We moved into a modular house that was built in 1986. We had to remove the trim in the kitchen and dining room for a re-model project, and the smell about knocks our socks off. It's not a moldy or mildewy smell, it reminds me faintly of sagebrush when you crush the leaves. I am just curious if anyone knows what this might be, a preservative or a type of wood?, so we can make an educated decision on whether or not to replace it.
Thank you!
Make sure the smell is not coming from behind the walls. If it is not, then replace the trim.
We bought a mobile home last August. When we bought it under the kitchen sink had a bad smell like something dead, but not as bad. Then when it cooled off for winter the smell went away. So I thought it was a dead animal. Well now that it has been hot, the smell is back, but this time it smells that way in our wash room that's right beside the kitchen and it smells a little under the sink. No smell in the bathrooms. You would think that if it was from a dead animal that it wouldn't smell almost a year later.
By Stacy
I'm no expert, but it sounds to me like maybe mice have gotten into the wood and/or insulation, made nests, and possibly some of them have died in there. I have found that heat really amplifies smells--for example, I drive a carpool route with three other parents, on rotating shifts. We share a 12 passenger van, provided by family A, for this purpose. It works wonderfully, as each mom gets 6 weeks off between shifts, but the ones who have their turns during the hottest part of the school year do have to tolerate certain lingering odors, because family A has also used the van to haul farm animals, feed, dogs, etc. and no amount of cleaning can seem to permanently get the smells out.
If you check the crawl-space and find nothing, the only suggestion I have for you is to keep those rooms immaculately clean and perhaps a bowl of pot-pourri? Hope someone else has a better suggestion than mine!
We recently had a bad rain fall and had a little flood of about 6 inches. We live in a trailer park where many of the trailers got flooded about six inches or so. A couple days after the rain had dried up we began to smell mildew or a mold like scent.
