Odd smell - what can it be or who do I call in to investigate?

We have been in our house for one year. Recently, on 2 occasions I have noticed a strange smell from my daughter’s bedroom. It is almost like a burnt smell. On the days I smelled it it happened to be very sunny and her room gets a lot of light (and there are no shades). Her room has the chimney bump out in it, and the smell is worse in her closet which is close to the chimney. Her closet is the only place in the house that the contractor forgot to replace the old baseboards. Her room is also above where the boiler is (2 floors up, and I don’t smell that odor anywhere else in the house (not below or above her room). Any thoughts? Could it be related to the closet baseboards, the boiler or chimney? any suggestions on who to come in to investigate the source of the smell? Thanks!

ditmasmom

in Roofers 11 years and 1 month ago

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divad | 11 years and 1 month ago

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Did Andre come and how did it go? We’re having a smell from our fireplace too (although I think it’s water intrusion and mildew).

ditmasmom | 11 years and 1 month ago

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Thanks for all these comments. My daughter’s room in on the 2nd floor and there have not been any other odd smells on the floor above or below her (or anywhere else in the house). The house was gutted and new electrical put in so I certainly hope it is not faulty wires! She doesn’t have anything plugged in her room except her nightlight. My contractor is non responsive to texts so don’t know about previous fire damage. I am having Andre of A & A chimney come by to take a look inside. The smell is activated by hot weather so perhaps it was a previous chimney fire or needs a cleaning. Thanks again!

miss718 | 11 years and 1 month ago

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We had something like this in a former house and it turned out there had been a fire at some point. On very hot days there was definitely a burning smell in part of our attic space. Ask the contractor if he saw any evidence of fire damage when he was doing work? There could have been a chimney fire years ago.

resident2 | 11 years and 1 month ago

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In a tenants apartment recently, the tenants recently had a burning smell in a hall room that they were using as a study. It turned out to be an overloaded electrical cable behind the wall. They had put in an extension cord to run their computer, printer, air conditioner as well as spot lights and then got an electrician of their own to change the circuit breaker, because the breaker kept cutting off! (Yes, the breaker was doing its job…cutting off the overload!) We caught it just in time, the whole house could have gone up in flames. The wire was burning behind the wall.

dylan621 | 11 years and 1 month ago

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If her room is on the top floor and you’ve done any work on the roof in the last couple of years, it could be off gassing from roofing products.

cate | 11 years and 1 month ago

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Could it be creosote? Or smoke coming through from the neighbor’s side? Is it faint or strong?