We've had daily flooding rain every day since Monday. Yesterday, I was in the living room, working on my laptop when I suddenly smelled something horrible!
I walked around the house and kept smelling it. I went to the hall leading to the bedrooms and gagged. I could tell the smell was emanating from the guest bathroom which is nearely opposite the door to my office.
Darling Hubby had been out doing errands. When he came home and stepped into the house, I was waiting at the back door. "Do you smell that?"
"Yeah. A mouse or something has got into the attic (which is supposed to be critter-proof according to the pest control company that did the insprection) and died.
Ladies, this is why you need a man. He donned disposable gloves, a mask, and changed from shorts and tee shirt to old fatigue pants and a long-sleeved shirt and pulled the attic stairway down. I ran for cover.
Every 10 minutes I shouted, "Are you okay up there."
"Yeah."
About 40 minutes later, he came down. "I can smell it, but I can't find it because of the 12 inches of blown-in insulation between the floor joists."
He zipped up the insulating pad that covers the hatch opening and returned the attic stairway to its position. (I think that 4-inch thick pad that covers the hatch is why we hadn't smelled it earlier because it's pretty advanced in decomp.)
While he manned the phones, calling every critter control company in the area, I turned on the bathroom vent fan, closed all the doors opening onto the hall, gathered towels, and stuffed them in the small crack beneath the door and the floor—not only at the hall bathroom which smelled like a toxic dump but also at the other doors too.
All of the companies we called were flooded with similar calls so we had to get on a waiting list. I shudder to think what this might cost, but at this point, I'll pay just about anything.
Of course I looked this up online. The bad news is you usually have to endure it until decomp is concluded.
With a mouse this takes at least 3 weeks. There's no easy way to make the smell go away. We have a commercial ionizer/air cleaner. We'll use that if the corpse can be located.
We're praying he can locate the little fellow although I have my doubts. A small house in a wall full of insulation? That's like the needle in a haystack full of needles.
If I learn anything significant about dealing with this problem, I'll pass it on.
TAKEAWAY TRUTH
Worse case scenario if it can't be located? We're packing up and going to our house in the country for the next month. Iffy internet and cell service there, but at least we can breathe without gagging. Wish us luck!
P. S. If you have dealt with a problem like this, please leave a comment and give me some advice.
Sorry that you had this issue. We had a dead mouse, but the creature was all dried up, so no smell. Good luck finding this one.
ReplyDeleteWhee! After nearly going crazy over this situation and receiving 4 estimates of varying degrees of expense and craziness, a wonderful pest control guy came out. Isolated its location. Found where it came in, and the problem has been taken care of. He also told us to order a product to take care of any lingering odor. "Delta Nature Air Sponge Odor Absorber."
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