Rental Smells!

http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-Pro-Performance-Blower-4900/dp/B001DNGSCM/

Simple, cats and curry.

You just cannot satisfy some people.

Incense is inexpensive or try bowls or glasses of white vinegar, maybe fall-scented potpourri.

Opening the windows for a few hours?

how dare that landlord renovate! Let me guess, it smells like paint too!

I find that that most versatile of all things -- model airplane glue -- works great for this. I use it for all kinds of things. You can use it as sort of a personal sachet by putting a tube of it in a paper bag and then breathing it whenever you smell anything malodorous, or whenever you're bored or want to feel like a Crystal Lite Republican, for that matter.

hah!

what does grout smell like????

I second ab's question.

time

Invite over Charlie Sheen.
Leave him an 8-ball and the phone number of the stinkiest hookers in town.
Goodby to that new car smell.

real funny everyone. i'm not that picky, but it has been 3 weeks since the renovations were done. would have figured that leaving windows open for a majority of that time would have helped, but it has only marginally improved.

i can't really describe the smell of grout, almost like cement, but as soon as we turn on the hot water, this smell permeates teh bathroom.

Febreze?!

doesn't that just mask odors as opposed to remove whatever is causing it?

Be sure they sealed the grout lines. My hunch is that water shouldn't affect grout in the way it is (odors) if it's properly sealed. It might need to dry out a bit before sealing. Research that yourself before trusting the advice of whomever it is you're dealing with on this.

No Febreze doesn't mask odors. Nothing does except for sniffing glue. Like all similar products, it just adds another odor that's many times more disgusting than the one you're trying to get rid of, so you forget about the first one.

thanks alanhart. it's baffling. i left the shower running for 5 minutes and the bathroom is overtaken with the smell. i think i agree with you now that it's not the grout. but that leaves me without a clue where the smell is coming from. i think i need a "smell consultant" but have no idea where to get one...

There's a hairy dude on West 67th Street who is an expert in "off" smells.

But I didn't mean that it's not the grout ... I meant that the grout wasn't sealed properly. I hope it's not an inappropriate backerboard, though, affected by water seepage. Still, I wouldn't think unsealed grout would allow water seepage ... just mildew.

Why don't you call a tile store, like Nemo, and describe the situation to them for diagnosis.

what does time smell like? is it a fast smell?
oh, you meant thyme! grout smells like thyme.
oh, to smell of thyme...
yes, i think thyme would work!

Just buy a can of Lysol and be done with it.

Matt, you are such a frickin genius... My bathroom is permeated with noxious fumes whenever I turn on hot water due to some god only knows chemical reaction. But, rather than try to help solve the problem, as some others on this board have tried, I should do as you say and just mask it.

You truly are the village idiot that everyone on this board treats you as.

Alan, gotcha on the grout. Have someone coming in this week to take a look. Baffling.

Peace out.

Did they redo the service lines for the shower/tub and sink. The water running through the pipes might be picking up traces of the bonding agents used to connect the pipe sections. Depending on what and how much they used, this might be contributing. Is the water at all cloudy or does it run clear? If it is cloudy, you may want to try just letting it run for a while until it clears up? More than a couple of days would seem excessive for that smell to last. Can you isolate the smell to a particular fixture -- sink, toilet, bath -- or a service line -- hot or cold water? Also, do you know if any work was done to the hot water heater?

Good luck

"rather than try to help solve the problem, as some others on this board have tried, I should do as you say and just mask it."

Wrong.

Lysol kills the germs that cause the odors.

Matt, it doesn't sound like this particular stink is coming from germs but from chemicals... Lysol won't stand a chance against that.

curry, cats & Sheen!!
lol spin & falco