The smell started when it had rained heavilly which may just be a coincidence. About 2 weeks earlier we had set out rat poison in the front garden as we had seen a good sized rat. We also have many squirrels in our area. The plumber has said the pipes all look fine and he thinks it’s a dead animal in the wall. It is in the bathroom and everything has been cleaned with tile mildew spray. The odor now has been there about 3 weeks. Which if any of these products do you suggest. Thank you.
Rats, squirrels and other small animals will many times move into wall spaces and other areas of the home. On slab homes, this can be under a tub or shower stall and many times these rodents never make it to the living area. They may end up getting real close, up above or just under the slab, and where people are active. Slab homes also have many more access points like pipe holes and cracks common to the construction. Bathrooms typically have traps or extra large access holes for water pipes and are therefore more vulnerable. These holes are perfect for animals and odors to enter the residence.
Based on the information you included above, I suspect a mouse or roof rat ate some of the poison you placed out in the yard. Unbeknownst to you, this animal was nesting in the house or maybe just under it, along an outside wall. When it got sick from the poison, it undoubtedly died in this area and now the gas from it’s degradation is making it’s way into the home. To cure this problem quickly, you’ll need to treat the area where the carcass is decomposing. If you cannot locate the carcass, it will probably take several treatments combined with the body completely decomposing before the odor is gone.
At this point I recommend getting some of the NNZ and applying it up under any tub or shower you have in the bathroom. If the house is a slab, my experience tells me the animal may have been using a crack in one of these areas to gain access inside. I’ve also seen where they’ve nested under slabs close to bathrooms. When animals in these areas die under the cement, odors will many times permeate up into the home. Such could be the case here. If you don’t have a slab, I would venture to guess the animal is in a wall or ceiling space. If you have reason to believe it could be located in such a space, using our FOAMING TOOL will best deliver the NC7 to these otherwise inaccessible locations. Remember, getting the treatment directly on the carcass will yield immediate results. Getting close will help and in the some cases require 2-3 treatments before the odor subsides. If the home is a slab, spraying under the tub and/or shower with a good PUMP SPRAYER will usually do the job. Try to direct the spray where pipes enter the cement allowing the emulsion to trickle down into spaces and voids. Lastly, any adjacent room such as a garage or storage area, should not be ignored. You may be smelling the odor in the bathroom but it could turn out to be alongside this room and in an area you don’t frequent that much. Be sure to do a good inspection making sure no area is missed. .
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