What's that smell?
I live in a brownstone that was duplexed into the basement back in 2000. There is a door to the boiler room at the front end of our renovated hallway that leads to the back rooms off of the garden. When I can home yesterday I experienced a faint smell of urine coming from the…
I live in a brownstone that was duplexed into the basement back in 2000. There is a door to the boiler room at the front end of our renovated hallway that leads to the back rooms off of the garden. When I can home yesterday I experienced a faint smell of urine coming from the front area in the boiler room (gross!). Does anyone out there know what could possibly cause this odor? We have had sewer issues in the past but this is a completely different smell.
I have of course called our maintenance professional to check it out and see if we need professional plumbing assistance, but I thought I would ask all of you out there in brownstone land if you ever encountered this before. Many thank!
*MK
Many thanks to all who responded. The smell remains a mystery; but seems to have subsided as of last night.
By the way “Guest @ 8:33 PM”: I disagree that urine smells are normal in old brownstones. I go downstairs several times a day in my basement space (which as mentioned in my original post has been renovated) and have never smelled anything like this which is why I bothered to post my inquiry. What could you possibly mean by “It’s Brooklyn, it’s a urine smell. What’s new? Get over it?. Are you suggesting that people from Brooklyn are such thoughtless pigs that they just pee anywhere they please? As someone born and raised in Brooklyn I find that comment not only offensive but just plain ignorant and unnecessary.
If you do not have something constructive to say please keep it to yourself.
You mention it is in the front – if you mean front of the house my guess is that the boiler is vented through the scuttle. Can somebody pee down it?
Urine smells are normal in old brownstones. Especially in the basement. If this is the first time you have smelled it, either you don’t go down there often or your sinuses are usually very bad.
It’s Brooklyn, it’s a urine smell. What’s new? Get over it.
Rats. They happen. Even if you have the cleanest, nicest, most expensive place in New York, the freak storms and flooding subway tunnels have been causing a diaspora.
Are you sure it isn’t all the rain kicking up weird smells? Whever there’s a lot of dampness, smells have a tendency to emerge. Old house funk — kinda like wet dog funk.
Quite possibly someone just went back there and urinated… years back, our co-op had a problem with people climbing over the locked gates leading down to our basement entrance who then proceeded to relieve themselves on our property…
Thanks for the reply and thought. I thought about cats, but after investigating the area, I did not see any evidence of cats.
Other things going on near my property that I neglected to mention was yesterday the City was doing a repair on a hole in the middle of the street where there is a sewer connection and the brownstone next door is having a basement pipe rehabilitation.
*MK
cats maybe? anyway neighborhood strays could be getting in?