Weird smell- not sure what contractor to call

Austin, Texas
Managing Your Property
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Weird smell- not sure what contractor to call

Joel Halvorson
Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes

Trying to find the right contractor for something. My new tenant is saying that they smell a weird smell (not gas, says it smells closer to a dead animal) the strongest in a 5’x5’x2’ enclosed area, and not the whole house. It’s near the garage, inside the house beneath the closet that has the gas hot water heater and a/c unit. This is where the ac pulls air from and he says the smell is after the filter, but doesn’t smell it anywhere else in the house. There is no discoloration or anything under there, and there were no signs of critters or the smell two months ago when I walked the property when switching out the tenant… just not sure who to call, and it’s a 200 mile round trip for me to check out…

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Jeff CopelandBusiness Member
Real Estate Broker · Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
3y

My first call would be to a handyman. If you are managing rentals from 100 miles away, you need one on speed dial!

Copeland Morgan LLC4.770 Reviews
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  • Jeff CopelandBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker · Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    3y

    My first call would be to a handyman. If you are managing rentals from 100 miles away, you need one on speed dial!

    Copeland Morgan LLC4.770 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
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  • Eliott Elias
    Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2021 · 9k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    3y

    May be a dead rat in the drywall. Call a handyman out or exterminator. 

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  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    3y
    Quote from @Joel Halvorson:

    Welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!

    My suspicion is a dead mouse in a vent or something.

    If it's limited to that one area, I would wait a week to see if the smell goes away. If it does, then it was likel a dead mouse and has finished decomposing. 

    They can also invite some friends or a neighbor over to see if someone else can identify the odor. I wouldn't spend money or travel 200 miles just to stick my nose in a closet without first giving it the chance to go away.

    The DIY Landlord Book4.7248 Reviews
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  • Andrew S.
    Investor · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 708 votes
    3y

    Do they report a consistent smell or is it intermittent?  I had a case like this where the tenant reported intermittent strong smells coming from the kitchen cabinets but every time I went there (I live nearby), somehow the smell was gone….  Just to return magically a few days later.  I told the tenants to call me any time the smell came back so I could experience it myself, but somehow I never got a call…..  I agree with others: wait a few weeks and have them closely monitor when the smell is noticed and how strong.  If it is a small dead animal, it will dissipate over a couple of weeks and “solve itself”.

    If the smell persists (and is in fact real), the next thing I would check is the vent pipes - possible that something got trapped and is slowly rotting in there.

    I never found anything in my case - the problem solved itself at the next turnover.  The new tenants have been there for over a year and have not reported anything.

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  • Scott Mac
    Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    3y

    Any weird screams along with those smells(???)

    https://apnews.com/article/783803c2e8f39df70e2e8fb847a2af1e

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  • Caroline Gerardo
    Lender · Washington DC · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    3y

    Rats, squirrels, or small critters go into the water heater because it's warm and maybe some nice dripping water. Likely critter ate poison and died in there.

    Fill the gaps with steel wool and staple over 16- to 19-gauge mesh material that is fused at each joint and galvanized  to keep friends out.

    The whole property needs to be sealed up. No pet food left out, no trash open overnight... sanitation cuts down rats. Five gallon water bucket with a plank and peanut butter (gross but most effective not poison there are ten plank varieties on Amazon).

    Buy the equipment and go there to inspect. Have handyman meet you if you don't like to work with your hands. This is part of being a landlord. You want tenants happy. I would not live with the smell.

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  • Joel Halvorson
    OP
    Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    3y

    I appreciate the comments and feedback

    I am going to head up tomorrow and check for myself. I’m taking several tools from a black light flashlight to moisture meter to thermal camera to check everything out and smell the smell for myself to see if I can figure it out.

    The vent stack for the water heater is a straight shot vertical up, and is a solid piece going to the roof, same for the furnace. This used to be our primary and when it was I sealed all the crevices for critters to get in. When I walked the property there was no smell, no sign of critters anywhere… never had (besides squirrels one time) issues with mice or rats. Where tenant says he thinks the smell is the dead space behind the filters that feeds the AC unit air, but doesn’t smell it in the rest of the house.

    Tenant hasn’t said wether it is intermittent or not, just that it smells real bad, but only in this small area of the house.

    I’ll follow up after my visit.

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  • John MorganPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Grand Prairie, TX · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    3y

    Most likely a dead rodent in a wall. Not a big deal. The smell will go away after awhile.

    Although I talked to a guy who had a dead body buried under his pier n beam house he had just bought. That smell got worse and worse so he went under the house with a pick to dig around the smell a little. At first he assumed it was the previous owners pet they might have buried. But when he swung his pick and hit a large clavicle bone that angled straight up, he knew it wasn’t the family pet dog. Lol

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