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Although live in a house full of guys, I like to
think I keep the bathroom clean enough not to be able to tell.
In the last month or so, no matter what I did to the bathroom,
I kept smelling urine.
Rugs washed, floor scrubbed with bleach, shower curtain
liner and cover washed, towels all clean, no pet spots on the
bath rugs, nothing.
Today I stripped the bathroom, cleaned everything, sniffed
everything, moved everything and still that nasty smell persisted.
I was just about to give up when I discovered by accident what
was causing the smell.
To clean the floor in the corner, I moved an iron stand. So as not
to break the vase, I moved it to my bedroom, where Ti Wi Li was sleeping
on my bed. So as not to disturb her, I pulled the door shut behind me.
After the bathroom was cleaned, again, I opened the door to my bedroom
and was greeted with that same nasty urine-like smell.
Long story even longer? A floral display in the vase was the cause of the odor.
Indeed my room reeked of it. The dried flower arrangement contained Eucalyptus
as well as other reeds and grasses, flowers and such.
Little did I know that when I sprayed the bathroom with Lysol, I was spraying the
smell right back alive again by spraying the dried flowers, and the air vent below
the stand was only helping to circulate the smell. UGH!
Now I feel like the women on the Febreeze commercials. I can't stop smelling
the clean bathroom now that the guilty culprit has been removed.
Oh my gosh, no, I'm sorry, I should have clarified, too funny!
No, the smell of the flowers is what smelled bad. They had that
dried out hay stink smell, and every time I sprayed them with Lysol,
it sort of accentuated the dry hay / pee smell.
Sure hope it wasn't pee, that's quite a long shot way up there, LOL.
You know, now that you mention it... I can remember having a dried flower arrangement a few years ago that started to smell a little funky before I got rid of it.
I think maybe the moisture of the shower in bathrooms may prompt some sort of decay in the dried flowers that develops a stinky smell.
Glad for your post. Reminds me not to think about a dried flower arrangement for my bathroom. hehe
Oh, gosh, yes, or at least replace the display on occasion.
I made the mistake of leaving the same set in there for a long
time 'because it matched'. LOL. Yeah, it matched alright.
Eucalyptus smells like cat pee. When we lived in CA there were a lot of those trees around roads and fields. When it rained or was foggy, the smell coming from them was terrible. Would make you gag. Don't know why anyone would want that smell in their house. I would not have it in mine. Went to a church one time that had dried arrangements with eucalyptus in them and you could smell it when you walked in the door. Finally someone got rid of them. What a stink. LIZ
I once found the source of a urine smell after watching my neighbors boys. Their aim went right on top of the bowl at the back and ran under where the tank meets. To clean there I have to take a thin old t-shirt, soak it with lysol, and work it back and forth like dental floss. The smell never came back, and I taught those little guys to aim using cheerios. My boy learned to mop very early in life. If he didn't aim, he cleaned. I'm the meanest mom in the whole world, ya know. And the seat is returned to the down position or you are called back in to lower it, I don't care where you are or who is here. Hubby closes it, too. I must be the meanest wife, too.
WUVIE,
Sometimes that smell has nothing to do with the homemaker but is the result of the toilet not having a good tight seal. Particularly in older homes or spec. built homes the floor is so un level that it is not unusual for a plumber without a fair amount of experience to improperly seal the toilet to the waste pipe. This lack of seal is most often diagnosed by the fixture rocking back and forth. The solution to your problem would be best solved by a professional coming, this job should certainly take no more than 1 hour and the parts should be no more than a few dollars. kt
No problem. They were a hay / grass / reed type of thing that
really didn't smell good at all. Of course, they had been hanging
around for some time, past due for a fresh display anyhow.
It wasn't urine they absorbed, but moisture in general, as our
bathroom is small and the showers are often very steamy and
hot.
