13) If all else fails, I would use plastic sheeting and tape and close up all room vents and exhaust fans, close and cover and tape all windows, power off HVAC system, and use cheap painter's plastic sheeting and masking tape to seal off every room (weighted at bottom to seal door bottom gap, like with board or such if carpeted - use tape if hard flooring), and let sit for as many hours as feasible (take a day out of the house on weekend say) then when you come back into house move from room to room smelling if there is a higher concentration in any one, or if smell burst out when you untape the duct registers. Make sure you ask our Member Care Team about our new membership options! Answered by LCD: Ok - now you've got me going obsessive on this problem - couple of other thoughts came to mind, though I would not call them necessarily "bleach" smell, but definitely strong chemical smell: 1) low gas level in A/C can cause scorching of the oil in the refrigerant gas which, if you had a leak in the lineset or evaporator coil or have an outdoors air handler unit, could get into the house on a persistent basis - I would call it an oily or acrid burnt smell more than chlorine, but different people call smells different things depending on their personal experience. Weather can also play a part. vinegar around bleach. Use a mixture of bleach and water to get rid of the bacteria that causes it. You can position fans to push the air out of the open You said HVAC system has been investigated - I presume that means the evaporator coil for the A/C and ducts were checked for mold/fungus ? We know for a fact the prior owners contractor used Sporicidin after the pest control man had sealed and trapped in the attic. You could also (after getting utility lines located) use a posthole digger or auger to open up a few holes in the yard around the house, particularly on the pool side and most especially if leakage drainage from pool (yours or neighbors) could be toward the house, cap the hole for a day with a tight-fitting plastic jug or such, then remove and smell whether the smell is strong in the ground, indicating highly chlorinated … Answered by broderbund: Thank You LCD for your detailed response......as you can imagine this issue is driving me a little crazy so am grateful for any potential ideas/help. 14) look around for a hidden spot you do not know about - in-wall storage, under-stair cubby, attic (including possible separate attic over garage or such), utility closet bins or cabinets, fruit cellar, wall safe etc which might have leaking chemicals or rotting food or such in it. Though the forum is no longer active, we are providing this archive so you can still benefit from the most popular questions and answers. NOTE - it is important that if the ducts are used for this, it should NOT return through the furnace/air handler - can cause significant damage. room over time.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'housetrick_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',110,'0','0'])); Just be smart with the way that you’re positioning Commonly on the order of $0.05-0.25/SF with higher end usually being only for the directly contaminated surfaces, lower end for secondary contamination and areas where airborne odors are sticking. When you come back, the smell of bleach should be long gone and the air should be breathable. Is it possible this is a result of the cinder block absorbing (what may have been) straight bleach and has yet to dissipate...? I have not mentioned them using a handheld Drager sniffer or similar because I have low hopes that will determine the chemical responsible nor the source, though it is possible it can identify the class of chemical - but if a bleach smell, handheld unit might just give a hit for chlorinated compounds and certainly you will still need GC or MS or GC/MS testing to identify the exact one - which unfortunately STILL does not tell you necessarily the source or the exact product, because for say a chlorinated cleanser or phenol disinfectant there are still a bundle of products which could have released that chemical. goo. No central air (also, it's winter) no dishwasher, no pool. Before going to an air quality firm (going to be pretty pricey, though if that strong a smell testing probably will be definitive as to what chemical it is) you might consider a few more second opinions first - from friends or family, and/or from a Home Inspector and/or Plumber - both as a second sniffer to try to tie down where it is coming from, and also as a new (and with home inspector and plumber more experienced with manyu household smells) opinion as to exactly what the smell is from - is it cleaning product, chlorine, overheated insulation or plastic electronic device housing, flooring, paint, etc ? It was bombed overnight, aired out from chlorine smell and then neutral. So frustrating! You can use multiple fans in If not able to tie down the strongest odor point by (preferably several people at same time) walking around all areas and sniffing, and failing a result from that then individually sealing and then later checking the rooms, then certainly the environmental testing firm taking air samples and running lab tests would I guess be your only remaining optionother than jacking up the mailbox and slipping a new house and lot in underneath (a variation on jacking up the radiator cap and slip a new car in underneath). There's no leak, no visable mold. Any prior ozone treatment of ducts or such would have dissipated within less than a day - ozone is a modified oxygen molecule (O3 rather than O2) that dissipates and breaks down quite rapidly and does not leave a residual smell. Terms of Use | Can happen with interior or exterior paints. We do have a leak in the slab part of the house.....water has been shut off as we determine best way to repair ------ just don't think that could be causing the smell. Air out for days and think its dissipating, but within hours of closing up windows you can smell it again. On the day of the closing we noticed bleach like smell in the house but chalked it up to cleaning supplies or the house being closed up for a period of time. I am going to presume you are pretty sure it is not a decaying body you are smelling, though the odor from even larger varmits like coons and possums generally taper off in about 2-3 months - smaller ones like rates and squirrels and such in the walls or trapped under tubs or such more commonly mummify or dry out completely and stop smelling strongly in a month or less. You could contact your realtor and see if he/she will contact the owner's realtor, may possibly require some sort of hold-harmless agreement to get them to fess up, to get them to disclose anything done that could be causing this - cleaning, new foam insulation, sewer drain or line treatment, etc. Our phone number is 888-944-5478. the room might have a vinegar smell instead. The former should be quite noticeable right at the motor, and is normally only generated by brush type motors (like many older motors and handheld rotating power tools like electric drills). 23) large insect nests (termites, ants, beetles, bees, etc) can have a chemically smell - but presumably if people have been in the attic and crawlspace they would have mentioned an insect infestation if they saw it. How Much Does Indoor Air Quality Testing Cost? 3) air ducts - if recently cleaned should be fine - if the flex ducts are creating the smell should be much stronger smell if you push your nose up tight to a duct (if coming from the plastic) or stick your nose into a supply duct or two after removing (usually just 2 screws) a floor register or two to get up-close. You did not say what type of insulation you have - is it possible chemical was sprayed on a foam insulation that it reacted with ? For instance in our area the local landfill started extracting and burning for power the methane coming out of it - but even though a mile or more away, commonly in the summer the odor of the burning gas and the associated phenols and partially burned gas odorant added to it can be highly obnoxious (though smells like rotten garbage or a natural gas leak, not chlorine bleach) - enough so that the local natural company is going crazy with callouts for people thinking there is a natural gas leak in the area. 4) heater element in dishwasher staying on all the time, overheating plastic and causing it to stink. 11) again getting back to what was in the house on closing day so may not apply, but intermixing or leakage of solvents, paints, perfumes in storage/garage/workshop, or some chemical in a container (particularly urethanes and resins do this) going bad in the can and leaking odors as it changes chemical composition. It’s important to know that you need to be careful what you’re mixing with bleach. Continue to engage with Pros by submitting reviews for all the work performed at your home. Yes, I did use it a day extra but Im sure others have as well and posted as much. Normally going to be much stronger in basement, crawlspace, or just one room where the damage is concentrated. I really didn't think it would work but it worked 100%. Within hours the smell and burning nose got better and is gone this morning. I'm coming around to the idea that there had to be a combination of inappropriate chemicals which continues to give off a chemical gas. Also of course, if it was smelled at closing date walk-through, and same smell and approximate persistence now, I would be making a strong effort (if previous owner will cooperate) to talk with any contractors or cleaners who were in the house about what they used - anything from wall washing or carpet cleaning solution to repainting. This actually works pretty well but I was desperate and replaced the filters with paper ones. With some types of contaminants, again generally if actually saturated with the chemical as opposed to just exposed to airborne contamination, replacement of absorbent countertops, flooring, etc is necessary. Answered by Thetodor: I know it's been awhile but have you been able to get rid of the problem and/or determine the cause? Obviously, with slight drift air across property, if stronger at property line that at house or same then almost certainly coming from outside your property. I had two brands (Sylvania and Green something, may have been made by same plant) CFL bulbs I sent back because even in normal use inverted in can track lighting which they were rated for, caused overheating and scorching of the bulb base and nasty chemical smell. It's an FDA approved disinfectant that does not have a bleach smell. Since you say can be smelled from outdoors before coming into house, couple of other possibilities: 16) ask neighbors if they have the smell and if so have they had any luck in tracking it down, 17) check around your property line when air is almost calm (evening usually better as many odors tend to hang low when cooler) for possible source one a neighbor's property - pool/spa/hot tub chlorination or ozone treatment unit most likely source, 18) ditto to above, for possible hot insulation or ozone from neighbor's A/C or such. I wonder if it's from several Chinese sources with no quality control. I don't have anything fancy in my apartment. My wife and I purchased an older home 3 months ago. That being said, you can use vinegar in a safe way to And of course because it involved land movement their homeowner's insurance provided zero coverage. This shows the advantage of multiple responsders to questions. We've had multiple people under the house investigating the crawl space with no odor. How to Fix a Toilet Seat That Keeps Falling (Best Tips & Tricks). Certainly if this smell was not there during your initial viewing or home inspection (home inspector would probably have noted it in report if that strong), then pretty much has to be something overheating causing the smell, or some architectural refinishing or cleaning or treatment or disposal that was done just before closing. All Rights Reserved. We followed directions and it worked. Could check by smelling at sewer vent pipe on roof - usually 2 or 3 inch plastic pipe standing up a foot or two without any cap on it, which vents sewer gases out of your household system. Hello, We have an older heater in our small condo; this is the second year we've lived here. As its name rotten egg smell, but it’s not actually the egg that smells terrible. If you smell animal waste, dander, cat boxes, or any other pet smells, that’s probably … They usually have a strong but fresh and pleasant smell and they are safe for our skin. An electrostatic filter does produce ozone - which is an acrid smell, and especially for people who have not been around high voltage equipment or opne-housing larger electric motors might be identified as a bleach or chlorine smell. Ditto possibly if you have a foundation drain system (basement underslab or outside the foundation) or outside drain wetwell - if it was smelling because it was stagnant conditions maybe they dosed it with chlorine or root killer or such - remove cleanout cover and smell. Please do let me know what the cause ends up being - you now have me irritated by this issue and in anticipation of the result for this too. The Angie’s List Answers forum ran from 2010 to 2020 and provided a trusted space for homeowners to ask home improvement questions and receive answers directly from Pros and other users. http://somechicksblog.com/make-meth/meth-smell-is-something-not-easily-h... c) or in cases of major contamination (almost always from gross area-wide soil/groundwater contamination) sometimes permanently condemned and then remediated under CERCLA or RCRA or such (remember Superfund and Love Canal, which started this way with groundwater-borne gas infiltrating into the houses and causing illnesses). odor that will be far worse than the bleach smell that you’re dealing with. I've kind of gotten used to it now, or it's not as strong, but I'm still a bit worried that something is wrong with the heater. 25) and don't forget, especially if strong outdoors, to check out plantings for odiferous plants - some people plant odiferous plants because they repel insects, plus some trees and shrubs are quite strong during seeding and blossoming time, if this is a new area for you or there are possibly exotic/rarer plants in the garden or flower beds. Another practical way to eliminate a strong bleach smell in a room is to use baking soda. Answered by BaggyJ: Did you ever find the sour of the odor? we have the EXACT thing going on in our house, but no idea where it is coming from or how to get rid of it. Can You Put Pots and Pans in the Dishwasher? 9) if possibly ozone, rather than chlorine (the biting sharp smell some electric motors and transformers and brush-type motors put out), then check around any electric motors you have - furnace blower, water or sump pumps, "instant on" hot water recirculation pump, A/C, furnace blower, reefer, doorbell or furnace/boiler transformer, etc. A basement floor drain or unused toilets, and other waste outlets remove. The pest control man had sealed and trapped in the attic or under! Think its dissipating, but like strong cleaning agents specs, especially after! No ozone treatment done but I 've been living in my apartment egg smell, mix a solution 3/4-cup. Work but you should be long gone and the air out of sewer... Designed to trap and hold water uses - commonly R-22 ( Freon ), R-32,.! Door seal and detergent drawer slightly open to let everything dry completely of baking soda is a pipe! 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