Are funny smells normal?

[hollygc]

Looking for some very quick advice. We are thinking of moving house, and so far have looked at 3 beautiful thatched houses and one tiled, all around the same age (C17th) except the last one which is late 1800's. The last two we went to (a thatched house and the tiled one) have shared a similar smell I can't place and I am wondering what it might be. I know it wasn't mold (we have lived in a house with a quite severe mold issues so am very familiar with the musty smell) but something else. Not really an unpleasant smell, just something I couldn't place. One of the two houses had a modern extension which didn't have the same smell about it, I distinctly noticed a lack of it when I went into that part of the house. They were different ages but both timber frame buildings obviously, but other than that didn't share any characteristics. The only thing that they both shared was that they were both currently uninhabited - unlike the others we have seen.

Is there perhaps an 'old house smell' that older buildings have, especially if they aren't being used/doors opened and fresh air coming in regularly etc? Perhaps a distinctive smell of the lime plaster or the timber? Should I be worried? As I say I am fairly confident it wasn't a moldy odour, but could it be some other worrying problem I don't know about? I like both of these houses and considering making an offer on one or the other, so want to make sure I am not unwittingly letting myself in for some big problem!

 

[Abi Cott]

Which mould are you familiar with? Black mould? I would imagine that different types of mould have a distinct odour and a house that's been empty for a while but doesn't suffer from condensation could smell musty but not black mouldy. I've got quite a poor sense of smell so I can't help with specifics just concepts.

 

[Bevmarley]

When we looked at our house it had a funny smell that we couldn’t place in the living room. After we moved in we realised it was damp. Normally I am great at detecting damp but didn’t this time.

 

[CliffordPope]

All houses have a slightly different smell. Apart from obvious ones caused by damp, rot, dead rats and pigeons, etc, then I assume that the smell will be a blend of timber, stonework, lime, wall paper, fabrics, cooking, pets, woodsmoke, cigarettes and the inhabitants. All these get absorbed down the ages and contribute to the unique acquired aroma that is your house.
When you go to another house that has a "smell" what you are really noticing is that it isn't your house, which of course has no smell because you are totally used to it.
If you are away from home for a period, then you may catch a faint hint of its smell when you first return, but it almost immediately disappears, ie re-insinuates itself into your subconscious.

What you smell is also more subtle than a mere scientific "aroma", but is also influenced by your feelings about the house and its associations.

Someone must have written a book "On the Psychology of Smells" ?

 

[hollygc]

Thanks for the replies all

Abi Cott, yes black mould in particular is what I am familiar with. The musty smell is quite distinct but this was an odour I didn't know. I wasn't aware different mould smelt significantly different, I really hope its not that

Bevmarley - uh oh, that's worrying. I think I am good at detecting damp too. My sense of smell is usually very good, owing probably to having very poor eyesight :lol: This certainly didn't smell like the classic damp smells I'm used to and I could smell it all through both houses (one of which had been restored by the owners, or so they claimed, because it had had some shoddy work done on it by previous owners - I certainly couldn't see anything glaringly wrong).

CliffordPope - Yes, I always notice our houses particular smell when we come back from holiday, not a bad smell fortunately, just belonging to our house. The really odd thing about this smell was that it was exactly the same in both these two houses. Definitely not rats, I know that smell as I had pet rats as a child, not really a dead thing smell (also familiar with that as my dog likes to roll on dead things ( :roll. I am actually starting to wonder if it might have been mothballs? If not I am a bit worried as it may indicate something unpleasant like damp or mould just not the type I have been familiar with. I have only lived in Victorian homes, so anything older is outside my framework of knowledge. I was hoping someone would pop up and say, oh yes lime rendered houses have a distinct 'lime' smell or something along those lines.

I don't suppose any of you know how we go about getting a really good surveyor who understands old buildings? The last one we had when we bought this place failed to spot major problems and was a total waste of money to be honest. I read that contacting the local conservation officer for the area might be useful, as they sometimes know of good surveyors?

Thanks again!

 

[Abi Cott]

Where are you based? Someone might know a good surveyor in your area.

 

[88v8]

We had a specialist old buildings surveyor and he missed some damp issues. We'd still have bought the house, perhaps, but as it was before we moved in we had to have the sitting room (concrete) floor dug out, and the (stone) staircase to the cellar removed and a land drain and pump put in.
A good deal of unplanned stress.
He also missed the broken joints in the half timbering and the consequence that the front wall is bowed and pulling the kitchen joists out of their sockets.

The good thing about the surveyor was that he didn't fuss over 'old house' things like general wonkiness, lack of insulation, and ancient wiring.

If you want to check whether a house is damp, buy a few of these hygrometers and as you view put one in each room.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trading-LCD-Temperature-Humidity-Thermometer/dp/B01LTHYX0U

By the time you've gone round they will give you a reading and then while the agent looks alarmed, you whizz round again and collect them.
Anything over 60% RH may be 'damp'.
Our house is damp, over 70% in the summer. By late winter with two woodburners going, it's down to 45%. In the cellar usually ten points higher.
And we have mould on various cold spots. Sometimes it's just the way it is, one can put up with it or not.

Ivor

 

[hollygc]

Abi - We are in South Cambridgeshire. Someone has just kindly helped me out and suggested I try a company called Witworth who are based in Bury and Norwich so quite close to us. Any other suggestions/recommendations gratefully received!

Wow Ivor that does sound stressful. I definitely don't mind doing work on a house I love, but I'd like to know exactly what I'm getting into so I can plan/budget and hopefully manage my blood pressure at the same time :lol: It sounds like that isn't easy to achieve even with a reasonably good survey, I have read quite a few accounts of surveyors missing big problems :/

Thank you so much for the tip about the hygrometers. We are going to see the house again tomorrow and I will be going armed with four of them to find out what I can. Do you use a thermal imaging camera? I understand they can be useful for identifying cold spots.

I don't mind a few mouldy spots, I can live with that for the pleasure of living in a beautiful house, but sadly one we lived in (which wasn;t even a very attractive house) had horrendous mould on every wall in the bedroom floor to ceiling. I don;t know exactly what was wrong with that house but it was very unpleasant and it has made me very wary as it was undetectable (to us at least) when we bought it since the owner had painted over it all

 

[hollygc]

Abi - We are based in Cambridgeshire.

Ivor - Wow, that does sound stressful - exactly the sort of thing I wan't to avoid! Thank you very much for the advice. We looked at one of the houses again today and I took hygrometers with me as you suggested. Upstairs the reading was below 50% but downstairs it was 70%, so I suspect the smell I was picking up is damp or the products of damp, ie. mould. I also had a much more thorough explore than the first time we looked at it and found a number of issues that worried me, including concrete floors throughout downstairs, a blocked up fireplace in at least one room, maybe more as I suspect the upstairs must have had fireplaces when it was built, and evidence of concrete on the outside too. There was a picture on the wall of working being done to the house in the 60's or 70's when a small concrete extension was built (more of a lean to really) and it looked like they had rendered a lot of the back wall of the house with concrete too. It has what is described as a 'roughcast' render on the outside- initially I had worried it was pebbledash but the listing says roughcast - I am now concerned about that because it doesn't appear to be there in the 60's/70's photo, and it makes me doubt whether it isn't concrete after all rather than a lime render. I have no idea how much it would cost to put all these issues right, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad as I am imagining but on balance it is worrying me enough at this stage to be off-putting so all things considered, despite the perfect location and garden, I think we have decided to give this one a miss.

 

[hollygc]

Sorry for duplicate posts, I thought the one I wrote yesterday evening hadn't posted properly! Looks like it was just awaiting moderation

 

[noj]

Regarding surveys we used this chap - http://www.surveysbydavidhornsby.co.uk/

Great report and pragmatic advice included, work required prioritised, approximately costed and with a suggested 10 year timescale...

His ethos:
"In terms of the survey report I would be looking at £950 inclusive of vat to carry out a full historic building survey. My reports tend to be slightly different from most surveys in so far as I work out the historic development of the property as well as looking at condition etc
I would expect to be present on the inspection for about 6 hours and more and more clients take the opportunity to meet me towards the end of the inspection to get a better understanding of the issues affecting the property. Obviously where issues are found I try to provide assistance with resolving these matters and outstanding consents maybe one such area."

 

[shobo]

Hi hollygc
I think I know what you mean about these strange smells, especially as you say 'Not really an unpleasant smell, just something I couldn't place. One of the two houses had a modern extension which didn't have the same smell about it, I distinctly noticed a lack of it when I went into that part of the house. They were different ages but both timber frame buildings obviously, but other than that didn't share any characteristic'.
I get the same smell every time I go into my French house and other old French houses, which have a lot of timber in the construction. Its a low level smell, and I would describe it as something like a combination of wood, old plaster and stone dust. Perhaps it is fanciful, but I imagine it is just the smell of the construction material. Nothing sinister. These houses have never had damp or mould. Its quite a homely odour. Then outside, I get the faint odour of woodsmoke. Magic !
I never get any such odour when I go into a stone house with no or little timber.