Large Scale Central

Odor problem!

General Discussion
#1

Had a bunch of rats running around here recently so as usual I put out the poison bait for them. One of them had the last laugh though – he crawled under my shed before dying. Now after several hot days the shed reeks and there’s no way to remove the smelly remains.

I’ve been leaving the door open the past two days to try to air it out but it’s still overpowering on the inside. Not quite so bad on the outside if the door is closed, but still noticeable… and we have a layout tour coming on Friday.

Any suggestions on how to reduce or eliminate the smell in a hurry?

#2

Try hosing him out if you can.

#3

Had a similar problem at work. The final solution was to cut out the floor, remove the remains and douse the area with sanitizing solution. That was 4 years ago. They have yet to repair the floor :frowning:

#4

Ventilate and maybe if you could find a skunk to do his business, it might help. Dehydration will eventually take care of it, but if you can’t get rid of the carcass you are just going to have to live with it until mother nature take care of it.

At the marina, we’ve always found masking the odor make it worse. Ventilation works best. I actually think wet dead carcasses, smell worse than dried ones. Best is figure out how to get rid of the carcass. Clean up the mess and move on.

#5

So sounds like if you place a fan, and aim it at your neighbor, this will work for YOU!

#6

Bite the bullet and get rid of it. Sorry about the floor.

#7

A bit late to suggest it now , but there are rat poisons that kill without the body stinking ; it dries the carcase .

Because of lunatic regs about rubbish disposal here in the UK , some areas have a lot of vermin problems , and Rentokil is recommended .

The trouble there are some who interpret “Rentokil” too literally and Rentokil company reps turn up and perform an expensive Raticide job .

We get the occasional rat and the Rentokil soon sorts them leaving a mummified body .

Sorry to sound like an advert .

Mike Brit

#8

Thanks for the suggestions. It looks like airing it out as much as possible prior to the event, then sealing it during, is my best option.

Definitely want to get rid of the shed eventually. It’s old, rusting, leaky, completely non-secure, and the floor is rotting away. Worst of all it blocks the view of the layout. I plan to build a small, more secure shed off in a corner of the yard, and have the old one torn down and hauled away. Unfortunately every time I think we’ve got enough money set aside for that project, life throws something in our path and then it’s “maybe next year”.

#9

What you are experiencing is why I choose to use the old fashioned Victory mouse trap. Fortunately we have no rat problems, but do get mice, especially when the weather turns cold. Some say the traps are inhumane. To me inhumane is poisoning or glue traps, etc. The spring trap comes down hard and final. At least you know where to find the remains.

I recently remodeled our mudroom. The major portion of the work was a new porcelain tile floor. To accomplish this I tore up the old floor, structure and all. The old floor was simply framed with 2" x 4"s laid on an existing exterior patio that we enclosed as part of the house. On top of the framing was plywood sheathing and a parquet floor. That was in the late seventies. What I found didn’t make my wife very happy. It seems that the local chipmunk population had made a very cozy little community condominium in the fiberglass insulation. What they left behind was rather nasty. Oddly we never suspected anything as there was never any oders above. The cat occasionally looked at the old floor kind of oddly however. We just thought it was a mouse that he heard.

So since the early summer, I’ve been trapping the little bas**rds and letting them go a few miles away. They may be cute, but the can do as much damage as mice or rats.

#10

I usually prefer traps too, for this very reason. Unfortunately there are a lot of rats outdoors (many of them live in the juniper trees people have in their yards). I can only put the traps out for a few hours after dark, and bring them in before I go to bed – if they’re out during the day they catch things we don’t want to kill, like birds. The rats are also smart enough to be very leery of traps.

#11

We have feral cats in our neighborhood that do a good job of keeping the varmits at bay. Our porch cats Spooky and Fatnoise keep the mice away.

As for Rays problem I was going to suggest if you can’t reach the critter, set out ant baits to lure the ants near as possible to the location and hope that the ants will take care of the remains, doesnt help for the open house, its more of a long term solution.

For a short term solution if you can reach the spot with a water pressure sprayer use bleach to spray the remains the night before or day of the event. The bleach should mask the odor at least for the day of the show. Then let the ants take care of the rest.

#12

is there any way you can get some Lime under there? I’ve used in the attic when I had a mouse die up there and stink up the inside of the house…

#13

Ray Dunakin said:

I usually prefer traps too, for this very reason. Unfortunately there are a lot of rats outdoors (many of them live in the juniper trees people have in their yards). I can only put the traps out for a few hours after dark, and bring them in before I go to bed – if they’re out during the day they catch things we don’t want to kill, like birds. The rats are also smart enough to be very leery of traps.

Ray, why couldn’t you leave the traps out all night and pick them up in the morning? Where are you located? Rats in trees!!! Wow, never would have suspected they would live anywhere but underground or under something. What about some nice birds of prey, or snakes? Scratch the snake idea, they’re as bad as rats to some people.

#14

On a couple occasions I accidentally left a trap out over night. The birds get up at the crack of dawn, and I don’t, so the sad result was a dead bird in the trap.

Rats here will live just about anywhere, including way up in the fronds of palm trees! (I’m in San Diego.)

If I haven’t put out any traps or bait for a few months, pretty soon it sounds like a stampede in our hedge when we go outside at night, as the rats race to climb back up into the neighbor’s juniper.

True story: Years ago a certain relative was telling someone in La Jolla (a VERY ritzy neighborhood) that there were rats living in the palm trees along the street. This individual became indignant and said, “There are NO rats in La Jolla!” Just then, with perfect comedic timing, a rat fell out of the tree and landed right in front of them!

#15

Another reason I’m happy not to live in CA!! We have them occasionally, but they aren’t too hard to get rid of. A renter next door attracted them a few years ago, but when the owner moved in with his cats they were soon gone.

I leave my ground level basement door propped open on cool summer nights to help dehumidify. I’ve been lucky that the only animal to be curious and come inside was a neighbor cat.

Hope you find a solution Ray.

#16

Ray asked

“Any suggestions on how to reduce or eliminate the smell in a hurry?”

Nobody has suggested setting fire to the shed .

That would do it . It may smell a bit as its cooking , but hey , how much sweeter the garden after the smell has gone .

Mike

#17

Mike - Sounded to me like it was a metal shed, so burning it would take a lot of effort!

#18

Jon Radder said:

Mike - Sounded to me like it was a metal shed, so burning it would take a lot of effort!

A couple of Phosphorous Grenades would fix that .

Mike

#19

Thermite.

#20

Jon Radder said:

Another reason I’m happy not to live in CA!! We have them occasionally, but they aren’t too hard to get rid of. A renter next door attracted them a few years ago, but when the owner moved in with his cats they were soon gone.

I leave my ground level basement door propped open on cool summer nights to help dehumidify. I’ve been lucky that the only animal to be curious and come inside was a neighbor cat.

Hope you find a solution Ray.

Jon, you would do better to install a continuously operating exhaust fan. The type used to rid basements of Radon. They’re made to run 24/7. They can be controlled by a humidistat. I have one installed in my basement, actually it is a cellar, and it also exhausts my crawl space. The other thing I did was to cut a vent into the supply duct of our central air-conditioning system. Before I did that, we would have large droplets of water forming on the underside of the supply duct in the basement. After, not a single drop was forming.

The night air is usually damp, so I’m surprised your basement dries out.