Beginning in January, in the middle of the night, we'd get an awful, acrid, skunk-like smell throughout the house. I'd step outside to make sure that wasn't where it was originating. As soon as I'd come back in, the odor was awful. We have to light candles, turn on the exhaust fan over the stove, and crack open a door. This would happen every 2 or 3 weeks. Now, we've had 2 consecutive nights of the occurrence. I don't think it can actually be a skunk since the odor disappears in about 3 hours. I have also noticed a few stink bugs (5), but have never smelled that odor when I get rid of them. Any ideas?
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It could be a dead animal,
Gases coming up from rarely used plumbing fixtures, leaking pipes or a gas leak. Here is an article which explains more: www.oldhouseweb.com/
It could be methyl mercaptan if you heat with propane or natural gas or have any appliances (stove, hot water heater...) that use it. It is added to fossil fuels (propane, natural gas) as those gases are orderless. The purpose is to alert you to a leak. At night, the air is heavier and it can be more noticeable. Some people claim it has a stuck smell to them, others say it is more sulfur like.
This is not sulfur like. We did the "bubbly soap" check on all connections. At first the episodes were about every 2 weeks or so. Now, we've had 4 out of the last 5 nights. Very sporatic. To me it is a true skunk smell.
There could be a number of different things causing this odor but it would be wise to make a list of suggestions and check out the most dangerous one first.
A very common odor problem is caused from faulty plumbing but probably only a plumber can help with that - costly, so maybe you could leave this till last?
Here's a trick: Close all of the room windows in the house, and keep all of the doors closed to the rooms. Keep some of the hall windows out for about an hour or two before closing. Next, go into each room to investigate where the smell could be coming from. If you open a door and it hits you like a grain of salt, bingo. If not, it is something in the hall that is possibly a dead animal investigation, rotten food in dish drain, leaky pipes, etc, but the biggest thing was the "skunky smell" which then you may want to see if any animal infestation occurred inside, or even outside the house near the window- especially if it has been a few days.
DEFINITELY check the gas situation as it could be lethal.
It could also be that animals living in the walls of your home urinate, which can cause that smell, but what's puzzling is the periodic nature of the smell.
I would have to ask if you have others living in the building as it sounds, by the periodic nature someone's been in to a bit of pot.
Once we had a skunk smell in our bedroom every night very strong. A mother skunk was living under our house. She would spray her smell so that her newborn, blind babies could find her and nurse.
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