How do you know if your home smells?

[seashells]

I recently visited my SIL at her condo for the first time (everyone usually meets up at MIL's place). She is the type to have everything in order, will freely give (unsolicited) advice, and generally seems judgemental of people's various foibles. So I was surprised when I walked in and was hit with a REEKING smell of cat pee.

They have two cats and I noted two litter boxes, and both seemed well-maintained to me. I don't think it's possible it was leftover reek from a previous occupant since they'd been living there for about 2 years and this wasn't an older odor.

You probably think I'm judging her but actually my reaction was to think "whoa! what does MY house smell like???"

We have two cats. One actually does sometimes pee outside her box. (We took her to the vet, vet thinks it's behavioral). We clean it up and it usually seems fine after a thorough cleaning and maybe a couple days. For all I know our house STINKS though.

And it's not just cat pee... who KNOWS what our house smells like. You get used to a smell, so we might be thinking it's all grand but it's not.

I started thinking of asking my (very non-judgemental) neighbor to come in and tell me honestly what she smelled in my house.

[Jaxinator]

I would ask your neighbor. It's probably better to try to fix it than go on now not knowing. People get used to all sorts of smells, like living near a garbage dump, or working with jet fuel or whatever.
I can sometimes smell my house when I've been gone for a a few weeks, it smells nice to me, like wood. But that only lasts for about 10 minutes, then I smell nothing.
I don't think leaving for a month would be a realistic way of going about it though

[Katie T]

I know my house smells, kinda musty, and it is in the intake vents. We have cleaned them the best we can and can't afford professional cleaning of them. I hate walking into the house and smelling it. Sometimes it is gone an other times it is really strong.

I agree to have someone else come take a sniff.

[HeatherAtHome]

We used to have two cats but one died. The one that died had stinky pee (because he was never fixed?) Back then I know our apartment smelled and it drove me crazy. Between the carpet we couldn't pull up (hate carpet!), the litter box, the stuffiness of the place with only 2 windows and patio door... I know our place smelled. I fought and lost the battle.

Oddly enough, the stinky pee cat died soon after we moved into our house so bonus, our house stayed nicer. But then we got a dog. So now I'm sure our house smells like dog. And cigarettes in the smaller living room where DH smokes. He started out saying he wouldn't smoke in the house at all... then winter came and now it's habit. But at least it's just the one room... All these stinky things were not my decisions, yet it's up to me to deal with it all.

I try to keep the floors mopped, windows opened for fresh air and wash curtains etc periodically.

[Ruthiegirl]

I get told that my house smells like onions. Hopefully, in a good way.

[Limabean1975]

I asked a good friend to be straight with me - she let me know that what I feared was true (cat litter smell. we weren't cleaning it often enough, plus, once I went on a major cleaning binge to rid the house of the smell, I found some turds in a dark corner under the stairs in the basement). Asking someone else is so useful, because once you've tried to tackle the problem, you can ask them again to see if it's improved.

We don't have the cat odour problem anymore, but we do have some occasional odour problems - the ducts need professional cleaning, and our dining room has an odour that gets strong when it's humid or rainy...I fear there may be dampness in the exterior wall.

[jocelyndale]

I smell cat in most homes with cats.

[Catherine12]

I too have found that I can't really smell my house. This is frustrating, because I can't tell when it's clean enough. I know we had an odor problem in our old house - because when my mom came to visit she commented on it (other visitors commented too). I cleaned and cleaned and couldn't get rid of it. When we were selling the house we had to replace the carpets and have a special cleaning done by a company specializing in deodorizing, which cost hundreds of dollars. We had to go by our real estate agents nose to know when it was de-stunk enough, because I just couldn't smell it.

But if you are acclimated to the smell of cat pee because of the cats in your house, I'd think you would also have a reduced ability to smell cat pee in someone else's house. So maybe your SIL's house really is a lot worse than yours. If she has an unaltered male cat, their urine smells much worse than fixed or female cats' does.

I've found that bio-kleen bac-out works very well on urine odors.

[thehappydeer]

We dont have pets, but living in the Northwest, its pretty easy to get a generally musty moldy unfresh smell coming from somewhere. Its easiest to notice when we've been away from home overnight or longer.

[Drummer's Wife]

The only times I really smell my house is when we are gone for a while (like for vacation) and come back home. It smells like wood, to me - probably b/c of all the oak doors and wood trimming? I dunno, but it's not a bad smell. However, I am sure there are times when my home smells funky to others (a recent poopy diaper, burnt food, puking kid, etc.) but I don't think when it is clean or on a regular basis it smells bad.

So maybe leave for a couple of days and come back? I do think a lot of times people with cats (or even dogs) don't realize how it smells to others. Otherwise, do ask someone who you know will be honest.

[luv-my-boys]

for me cat is a very distinctive odor not always bad but ive always been able to *smell* a cat at someone's home. Cat pee for sure its just one of those odors taht gets absorbed into fabrics and walls and such.

Our house is older so when we've been gone a while I notice an odor, its a slight wood (we have old restored wood all over) kinda like a library. Not unpleasant but very woody.

[JamieCatheryn]

Definitely pay attention right when you walk in the house having been gone all day or for days. Otherwise you wouldn't notice. At times I come home to smell fish or garlic or if DH has made breakfast recently, bacon. I can't stand air fresheners, artificial fragrance is not an answer even if the commercials try and play on our paranoia about home smells. I just clean up and air it out if there is anything.