[bluefoxicy]

I take out the trash.

I wash the dishes.

You know, where rotting food would be.

My oven isn't filled with splattered casserole.

There isn't food littered all over the f**king place.

Why does my apartment smell like food?  Why does the smell persist?  What am I missing here, people?

My roach-control methodology is to not leave any food for the roaches.  Or the mice.  This should suffice to prevent infestation by strange smells too.  What the hell?

[dj99]

Your kitchen or bathroom sink drain or garbage disposal.  Sometimes our drains get a mildewy smell, and I use the two part drain cleaner stuff that foams to get it all gone.

Your carpet.  Get down there & smell it.

The walls.

Your neighbor(s), current & former.

Your ductwork, if any.

[theDarkSide]

Baking soda down the sink every 4 months or so will help with the smell in the drain.

Is it possible some food feel behind something or under the stove?  My brother once had a plate of clams and tripped.  He thought he got them all but one had snuck under the baseboard heater.  The next time the heat came on, the whole place reeked of rotting clams.

[capozzoli]

Do you live in an Apt, complex? You may be smelling the neighbors food. I hate that about complexes. Im very territorial.

Reminds me of a story. A friend of mine. Years ago a friend of mine got a really bad smell in his apartment. At first it was "farty" soon after smelled like a rotting flesh. I told him he had a dead animal in the walls.

Soon after he called the land lord who was quick to do nothing. A day or so later a clear liquid began dripping from the ceiling. He called the cops. The fire dept went to the apartment above and broke down the door. Inside they found the tenant dead and decomposing. The clear liquid was from the decomposition process.

Also another thing it could be. Apt complexes can be tough during tough economic times. Peopole start eating a lot of beans, the whole building can end up like one giant dutch oven.

[theDarkSide]

Soon after he called the land lord who was quick to do nothing. A day or so later a clear liquid began dripping from the ceiling. He called the cops. The fire dept went to the apartment above and broke down the door. Inside they found the tenant dead and decomposing. The clear liquid was from the decomposition process.

Dude!!!!!  That's when I'd say to the landlord, "No that's ok...you can just keep all my stuff.  I'm moving out"

You're right about the complex thing.  My eyes used to water somedays from the smells coming from next door.   MMMM...Curry!

[weazletoe]

BFI, you know how much I love to derail these threads, but to prove I'm a good guy  ....here's my advice.

  I have two dogs in a 196 sq ft mancave. I clean and clean, but he dog smell just does not go away, especially when it's cold, and have to keep the windows shut. So, I got one of those Ionic Breeze air cleaners. Smell gone.

   Also, do you have a garbage disposal in your sink?Iif you are not sure, listen to this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XZMC1M9o04

   If it turns out you do, quarter a fresh lemon, and toss them in slice at a time. Do it once a week.

[beerocd]

  I have two dogs in a 196 sq ft mancave. I clean and clean, but he dog smell just does not go away,

That's great advice - Get two dogs! 

[weazletoe]

You're right about the complex thing.  My eyes used to water somedays from the smells coming from next door.   MMMM...Curry!

Right after Holly and me got married, we lived in a very small apartment, over a restaurant. The smells the came up from that kitchen could knock a buzzard off a gut truck. One time a potato blew up in the microwave. It was terrible. So, we used to get back at them by having loud, vigorous, uummmm.......marital realtions.....on the floor. 

[akr71]

Years ago, a buddy of mine got into a 'disagreement' with his landlord.  He bought 3 large mackerel, wrapped them in newspaper and stuffed them in the attic.  Then he moved out...

[dbeechum]

The worst I've ever heard is the old electrician's trick of "shrimping". Basically, they'll pull an outlet from the wall, throw frozen shrimp back there and then close the wall back up.

evil, evil I tell ya!

[Tim McManus]

I take out the trash.

I wash the dishes.

You know, where rotting food would be.

My oven isn't filled with splattered casserole.

There isn't food littered all over the f**king place.

Why does my apartment smell like food?  Why does the smell persist?  What am I missing here, people?

My roach-control methodology is to not leave any food for the roaches.  Or the mice.  This should suffice to prevent infestation by strange smells too.  What the hell?

Did you try bathing yourself?  Change of underwear?

Did you have a pet one day and then not the next?

[euge]

Could be a simple case of poor ventilation. If you cook a lot then it's gonna be layered up on everything.

Years ago in a house with 3 room-mates we tried to diagnose a mystery stench right before a huge party. One of my friends discovered a gigantic rat dead in a trap between the fridge and stove way back under a prep table. It was completely flat. Big maggots had hollowed it out. Nose to tail the thing was easily 24". I had set the trap while drunk and forgot about it...

Once that was out of the house smell- gone! And  drank 5 gallons of 20% mead. WooHoo. Beer...

[tschmidlin]

Could be a simple case of poor ventilation. If you cook a lot then it's gonna be layered up on everything.

Years ago in a house with 3 room-mates we tried to diagnose a mystery stench right before a huge party. One of my friends discovered a gigantic rat dead in a trap between the fridge and stove way back under a prep table. It was completely flat. Big maggots had hollowed it out. Nose to tail the thing was easily 24". I had set the trap while drunk and forgot about it...

Once that was out of the house smell- gone! And  drank 5 gallons of 20% mead. WooHoo. Beer...

Don't you mean WooHoo mead?

How long before had you set the rat trap?

We used to have a mouse problem in my garage.  A couple of summers ago I came home from vacation to find a bunch of really fat dead flies in a carboy full of starsan and a couple of flat mice in traps that I had left set.  Bad smell too.  Then there was the one that fell out of a jacket I had left in the garage . . .

It wasn't until we got a new furnace with a lightly smaller footprint that I was able to find out where the mice were coming in and seal up the gaps.  No problems since.  Well, there was something eating the peanut butter out of the traps for a while, but I eventually caught it - a shrew, it took a lot longer to catch because it was so much lighter than a mouse.  Anyway, no problems since then.

[jeffy]

Could be a simple case of poor ventilation. If you cook a lot then it's gonna be layered up on everything.

Years ago in a house with 3 room-mates we tried to diagnose a mystery stench right before a huge party. One of my friends discovered a gigantic rat dead in a trap between the fridge and stove way back under a prep table. It was completely flat. Big maggots had hollowed it out. Nose to tail the thing was easily 24". I had set the trap while drunk and forgot about it...

Once that was out of the house smell- gone! And  drank 5 gallons of 20% mead. WooHoo. Beer...

Don't you mean WooHoo mead?

How long before had you set the rat trap?

We used to have a mouse problem in my garage.  A couple of summers ago I came home from vacation to find a bunch of really fat dead flies in a carboy full of starsan and a couple of flat mice in traps that I had left set.  Bad smell too.  Then there was the one that fell out of a jacket I had left in the garage . . .

It wasn't until we got a new furnace with a lightly smaller footprint that I was able to find out where the mice were coming in and seal up the gaps.  No problems since.  Well, there was something eating the peanut butter out of the traps for a while, but I eventually caught it - a shrew, it took a lot longer to catch because it was so much lighter than a mouse.  Anyway, no problems since then.

I had some rats in the attic a few years back which I poisoned, but they would always find the most inconvenient (for us) places to die.  We found one behind the dishwasher in the kitchen.  They were coming into the kitchen through the ceiling vent fan over the stove.

[narvin]

I remember once my friend's car started to smell inexplicably.  He had taken a road trip and he thought it was maybe from eating in the car, and leaving a Wendy's bag with a few fries in it.  After a week it had gotten worse... much worse.  It turns out he had let his sister borrow his car, and she went to the grocery store and left a frozen turkey in the trunk.