Fishy smell in basement - who to call?

We moved into a gut-renovated old house in Crown Heights four months ago. The basement (which is about 65% below grade) is nicely finished and looks good, but a particular region of it smells kind of like old fish, and this faint fishy smell gets dragged into the nearby heating unit and circulated around the house. It’s a pretty subtle smell, and it seems to be centered around a part of the basement that is adjacent to the utility room, which has a trap for the sewage line. However, a good plumber has looked at the sewage trap, says it looks fine and is well-capped, and he doesn’t think the smell is sewage-related. My problem is — I’m just not sure who to call. An exterminator? Another plumber? An ichthyologist? How do you choose, when you know the symptom but not the cause?

slackjaw

in Plumbers and Plumbing 11 years and 6 months ago

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reedmysoul | 11 years and 6 months ago

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I had a similar problem when we moved in to a 2 bedroom apartment last year. We didn’t know where it came from and didn’t know who to talk to get it fixed so I put two inquiries on myezbz.com about the problem. One inquiry was directed to plumbers while the other was for exterminators. I got several replies about possible causes from local businesses including quotes of their hourly rates. I finally settled for an exterminator. They found a dead rats. Funny cause they smelled like fish to me.

marie-helene | 11 years and 6 months ago

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Maybe one of the cans is different on the inside, or mounted in a way that puts the plastic closer to the bulbs. We changed the cans to all-ceramic ones, and the problem was solved.

slackjaw | 11 years and 6 months ago

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These are great suggestions. We have small recessed lights that could be the source, although the smell seems to come from one particular area of the basement, not the only area with lights of that kind. I will feed all these possibilities to a contractor or plumber and see what we can find.

marie-helene | 11 years and 6 months ago

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If you’ve checked the sewer line already, another possible source of fishy smell is heated insulation material. What sort of lighting do you have in the basement? Some cans are made out of hard plastic, and when they get hot they smell like rotten fish to me. We replaced the lighting fixtures, and the odor was gone.