Decay smell in a wall

Posting here in case this helps someone.

We had started to get an unpleasant smell near a particular wall in the house, and couldn't figure it out. We thought it might be an animal that crawled in and died. A few days later an electrical breaker for that room tripped, and when I looked into it, an electric socket in that room had failed, burned up the socket, and burned some insulation. The "dead animal" smell turned out to be burned electrical fixtures.

So if you're investigating that smell, you might put this on the list of things to look for.

 

Wow! Glad you got a good outcome. Thanks for the heads up.

 

About two weeks ago my wife noticed this same smell in our half bathroom downstairs. I disagreed with her and thought we had a plumbing problem because it smelled like sewage to me. She gets to sniffing around the room and her nose hits on the light switch. She says it is right there, that's the location of the smell. I still disagreed but said fine we will check it. Unscrew the switch plate and remove it and bam, one dead mouse.

 

Both interesting results. My dead animal smell smells like a dead mouse but it has lingered for 6 months. I tried the enzyme spray and it helps but only for less than 48 hours. How to figure the originzation of this smell and get rid of it? It is located at the bottom of the steps next to the garage; garage smells fine.

 

6 months is bordering on the long side for a dead animal odor to go away but certainly possible. If it lasts much longer I’d consider sewer/sewage, septic, decaying matter from where condensate lines empty into/below slab, unused floor/sink/shower drains, etc.

 

I have lived at this house for more than 15 years and never had rodent problems until last year. They were entering from the garage and into the attic. Had a musty smell in the garage for 3 weeks last summer. We bought bamboo floors and two pallets were delivered in the garage. at first, I thought it was the bamboo planks but the smell was so musty. I looked for the caucus but never found it. I saw droppings.

Anyway, I took PABugman's advice and plugged up all entry ways into the house. I realized that they were crawling through two entry ways: First, the area where the AC pipes from the furnace (in the garage) going through the stucco wall to the outside condenser. I plugged that up. Second, the garage weather strip had an inch gap; heat must of shrunk it.

I know PABugman will disagree with me on this but I also used an ultrasonic device to push them out of the attic and garage before I plugged up the entries. I literally saw 3 mice outside my garage 2 days after I used the device.

 

Yes I do disagree but I’m happy for your results! Thanks for the input and feedback!