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Odd Decomp smell

Posted By: MChewk

Odd Decomp smell - 04/13/18 12:44 AM

Was called to investigate an bad odor in an office...odor had a fishy smell...not the usual musky dead mouse smell or the tangy dead coon odor. Any thoughts?
Posted By: bic

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/13/18 12:45 AM

Originally Posted By: MChewk
Was called to investigate an bad odor in an office...odor had a fishy smell...


LMAO, I ain't even gonna go there.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/14/18 05:10 PM

ttt
Posted By: Brian Mongeau

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/14/18 09:51 PM

Check the trashcan, someone threw out a tuna sandwich?
If a refrigerator present, check the drip pan underneath, for a dead mouse or something that leaked into pan.
Think outside the box. Check desk drawers for something staff brought to work.
Posted By: Getting There

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/14/18 11:01 PM

Check any drains or trap to make sure there is water in them.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/14/18 11:48 PM

Thanks guys for the responses. ...did all that.... walked the perimeter, got down on my hands and knees and up on a ladder...nothing?! Small room no fridges just a counter tables and chairs. Have already searched everything.... I'm thinking a small bird got into roof line.....just can't find it.
Posted By: Getting There

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/15/18 02:29 AM

Are you sure there is not an opossum under the floor/crawl space.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/15/18 09:48 AM

The building is older anything is possible...will have to go over the place again. After talking with the office personnel....the odor seems to fairly mild in the am stronger by noon then mild again at closing.
So heat is a factor....place is built so tight didn't want to start tearing things up just yet.
Posted By: Jim Comstock

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/15/18 11:40 AM

I guess I've been exposed to as much rotten stuff as the next guy and don't really mind it, but last year I ran into the most putrid smell I had come across, not the usual decomposing dead squirrel, skunk or other, but the smell of disease. There were several foxes with mange living under a small shed. From what the home owner said, in pretty advanced stages. She had watched them for some time. Setting traps forced them to leave so I never saw them and was really happy not to have to deal with them, but that smell was in a class by itself, fortunately not under the house. Disgusting. Wonder if anyone else has ever smelled the like.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/15/18 11:48 AM

Jim, I have had the unfortunate experience to have smelled that manged canine smell throughout the years....something a trapper won't forget. I can't imagine what a den of manged foxes would smelled like though....nauseating I'm sure.
Posted By: Ronaround

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/16/18 11:16 AM

Can you talk a dog in to see if he pinpoints it closer. you know they cant help sniffing for that stinky stuff.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/16/18 11:22 AM

coincidentally they have a dog...and I was hoping for that....nothing.....I think the issue is in the ceiling somewhere.
Posted By: ACP

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/18/18 11:13 AM

Possibly wet insulation? After doing ductwork for a while I figured that it smells like a cross between fish and an oppossum
Posted By: vermontster

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/18/18 12:25 PM

I agree with ACP wet insulation. Do they have a rooftop HVAC unit or furnace. If furnace is it suspended over the ceiling. A roof leak onto the duct insulation. Has it rained recently. Air conditioning drain trap could be dry if in the attic and sucking in wet insul. Smell when the heat is running. Look for duct insul. sagging down on the bottom of the ductwork. If you touch it it will possibly pour water out.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/18/18 04:26 PM

Thanks guys have NOT dealt with that....much appreciated.
Posted By: Jason Turner

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 02:55 AM

I have one for everyone that I encountered today...definite raccoon toilet in the attic but as soon as you walk into the home you can smell it— smells like a carcass rotting in the walls somewhere. Hard to describe without showing it, but I’ve pretty much been able to isolate the smell location after doing a complete inspection. I think a raccoon has died somewhere in the dead air space but how do I get to it without tearing stuff completely apart? You can’t see in there- complicated constructin. And what IF it’s not really where I think it is? Looking for any help I can get too!
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 12:02 PM

Get a carpenter out and do further investigation
Posted By: Paul Winkelmann

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 02:33 PM

I am no longer allowed to investigate bad odors. At my age that old decomp smell always turns out to be me!
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 06:37 PM

Paul just check your shorts BEFORE you investigate those jobs...lol
Posted By: NE Wildlife

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 07:04 PM

Do you have a inspection camera? Could always drill some small holes and look then spackle over and touch up with paint
Or if you can pop trim off and drill hole down low to look.
Posted By: BigBob

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 10:11 PM

Harbor Freight sells a fairly decent TV Camera you can catch for $49 on sale. Fits down a .50 cal Muzzle Loader barrel pretty slick. I bought a small light, Thompson Contender brand I think, I drop down first, works great.
Posted By: BigBob

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/19/18 10:12 PM

Originally Posted By: Paul Winkelmann
I am no longer allowed to investigate bad odors. At my age that old decomp smell always turns out to be me

LOL
Posted By: Jason Turner

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/20/18 11:19 AM

NE, no, I don’t have one. Are you talking about this?

https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/WCS7792.html
Posted By: Jim Comstock

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/20/18 12:45 PM

Neat little camera. That would come in handy.

Back to smells, a few days ago I was standing in the middle of a Waste Water Treatment Facility when the operator guy says, "Your truck smells kinda musty." For a few seconds I was speechless. All I could say, "You are serious? and laugh." Guess the tub that had once held 20 plus skunks had a little residual odor. Interesting that he could separate the truck odor from the stench from the rest.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/20/18 06:24 PM

Jim ain't that the truth. My neighbors will walk over to see what I've caught at different times of the year. They will comment about the smells that they've grown accustom to living near me. Then later, I'll over to there place and get blown away by dog poop odors....I don't have a pet. It's all what you get used to...I guess.
Posted By: BigBob

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/20/18 07:21 PM

Like that TV commercial, Ya'll went "Nose Blind" LOL
Posted By: ponyboy

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 04/29/18 05:51 PM

If you had a good dog. They will usually stick their nose right on the root of the problem. And find the odor quickly.
Posted By: MChewk

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 05/06/18 12:09 PM

Ooops, I thought I'd better finalize this post ....after all the great input on "what it could be?"
After weeks of searching high and low we located an area literally by getting on our hands and knees and sniffing (glad no one had a camera). It turned out to be a wall switch....a very old wall switch. It seems like the place was built in the 30s. What ever wiring or compositites that were used in that switch box, insulating material that wrapped the wires, etc...were heating up when the power was turned on. Never got dangerously hot but still....everything was replaced smell is gone. Another one for the books....thanks for ALL the great input.
Posted By: No.4

Re: Odd Decomp smell - 05/29/18 01:28 AM

Originally Posted By: MChewk
Ooops, I thought I'd better finalize this post ....after all the great input on "what it could be?"
After weeks of searching high and low we located an area literally by getting on our hands and knees and sniffing (glad no one had a camera). It turned out to be a wall switch....a very old wall switch. It seems like the place was built in the 30s. What ever wiring or compositites that were used in that switch box, insulating material that wrapped the wires, etc...were heating up when the power was turned on. Never got dangerously hot but still....everything was replaced smell is gone. Another one for the books....thanks for ALL the great input.


Nice job.
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