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September 25, 2008
weird smell- closing soon
Hi,
my husband and I are closing on a house soon. The problem is this- they removed the washer-dryer and now there is a weird funky chemical/musty smell in the laundry room. There is also a floor drain in there. Their realtor told us we should deal with it after we close. I thought that was not such a good idea. What could it be? Should I have the inspector come back?
thanks,
Comments
It can be gas. Call up Key Span and they will show up within an hour and give you an idea. Its free.
Posted by: shalman at September 25, 2008 10:17 AM
yes, you should have the inspector return. it's probably nothing critical, but why not give yourself peace of mind? of course the realtor wants to defer it until after closing, since at that point everyone but you will have scattered in the wind.
Posted by: z at September 25, 2008 10:18 AM
Yes, don't defer. This is exactly why you do a walk through befoer closing. Hopefully it's nothing serious, but you should find out before closing. After closing, you have no recourse.
Posted by: slopefarm at September 25, 2008 10:20 AM
It is probably because the drain is open from the removal of the washer and dryer. More than likely just sewer gas from the open drain line. If it was natural gas like Shaiman says the house would have exploded by now.
Posted by: billyboomer at September 25, 2008 10:39 AM
billyboomer is probably right, but I would rather spend a few shekels getting the inspector back and finding out that it is nothing, than spend hundreds of thousands on a house that has a serious problem that will cost megabux to rectify.
Posted by: bohuma at September 25, 2008 12:30 PM
Maybe they didn't use enough bleach when disposing of the bodies?
http://ask.metafilter.com/7921/
Posted by: phripley at September 25, 2008 5:07 PM
could be a problem with the pipe venting. try pouring some
water into the floor drain. If it hasn't been used in a while gases can flow back if the trap is not full.
Posted by: ez at September 25, 2008 5:43 PM
Hi- OP here- thank you all for your suggestions. Now the seller's are saying that they did not cap off the sewer vent in the laundry room -so that was probably causing the smell. (EZ, you might be the prize winner) I am still having the inspector come back- the inspector was thinking mold that they tried to clean up. The whole process of buying this house has been so frustrating and bad.
Posted by: brooklynjennie at September 26, 2008 9:56 AM
I was going to suggest that the chemical/mold smell was the smell of their attempt to clean up mold (and dirt and whatever else) with bleach or some other strong cleaning fluid after they removed the washer/dryer. If the washer/dryer was there a long time it would have been really gross underneath.
Posted by: traditionalmod at September 26, 2008 11:15 AM
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