Getting Rid of That Foul Odor In Your Apartment

My son called me today to ask me how I was doing. I told him that I was triumphant in getting rid of a dead body smell.

Let me explain.

I moved into my new sublet in Los Angeles about a month ago. Actually, one month ago TODAY. Before I moved in I came to see the place, TWICE. Both times I thought it was liveable and was actually excited to have my own place after living in shared housing in LA for the majority of the time I’ve been here.

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But by the time I moved in I noticed a weird smell. When I asked my new landlord about it she said that the carpets had just been cleaned and the smell would probably go away. It didn’t. In fact, it intensified to the point where I would become nauseas as soon as I walked in the door. It smelled like a dead fish or a dead rat.

We both investigated and found that the odor was coming from the ground, maybe. So she asked the building manager to consider tearing up the rug and replacing it with tile. You know they weren’t trying to spend that much money so they ignored her request and I had to sit here and deal with this funky odor for the entire month.

On one visit where I was still complaining about the odor, because it seemed stronger whenever I went to sleep, she told me about how the past residents had removed the mattress protector and she had to fumigate it before I moved in.

The very next day I was out dollar store shopping when it hit me.

Wait. Did she say she fumigated the mattress? That meant she had it soaked in bug poison. Then she covered it in plastic! THAT is why the bed smelled like that!

I sent her a text immediately and she confirmed my suspicions. She replaced my bed with a much better one and with the bed gone the smell began to diminish but it didn’t completely go away.

Here is what I did to get rid of the dead body/dead rat smell in my apartment.

1. I opened all of the windows and turned on the ceiling fan for 24 hours.
2. I washed all of my sheets and comforters with extra laundry detergent and 9 scented dryer sheets. Washed most of my clothes too this way.
3. I wiped down all of the walls in my room with bleach.
4. I soaked the carpet in deodorizer, Febreeze and baby powder and didn’t vacuum immediately. I let it sit for a few hours.
5. I boiled a pot of water on the stove and added about a quarter of a cup of Fabuloso, which gave the house a fresh scent.
6. I took all of my clothes out of my closet and hung them around the room, Febreeze and air circulating through them.
7. I added scented dryer sheets to all of my drawers before I put the clothes back in.
8. I lit 3 candles, 2 Glade ones and one my old roommate gave to me that smells like Citrus. I left them all burning until they burnt out.
9. I put baking soda boxes in my closet and in my kitchen.
10. I put scented dryer sheets in all of my pillow cases.
11. We had to remove the carpet completely because the scent was encased in it. You can try steam cleaning it but if it is an old carpet, it may be best to remove it completely.

After 24 hours, the dead body smell is almost gone. I don’t even smell it when I walk in the door anymore but there is still a hint of it in the air when I concentrate really hard to locate it.

I hope it stays this way! I am so happy right now!

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