Ugh, gah! Help please!

[Tiempo]

My mother is coming to visit from England on Friday which seems to be perfect timing for a rodent of some description to get in the uncrawlable (for humans) crawl space and go clogs up somewhere in the vicinity of under the kitchen sink.

What can I do? there is stench. And flies.

[Forcast]

If the smell is strongest under the kitchen sink, i would empty that area out to be sure is not reachable. check in the drain pan of the frig as well the fan can push the smell around. The if you still have not found anything in the kitchen, start your search under the house see if you can pin point the smell below the kitchen area from outside see if you can find an opening that you can shine a light in untill you find the body, then figure out how far you would need to reach and take your rake and add a pole if needed. Hopefully it's under the sink in a bag or in the drain pan of the frig. If you do get it out from under the house I would mix bleach with water and spay some in then a top coat of carpet fresh. Good luck Hun I am keeping fingers crossed for the drain pan thats an easy clean. Ask me how I know!

[farmrbrown]

Not the ultimate solution, but if the animal has crawled way out of reach, how about several large boxes of baking soda, spread thick and liberally under the sink, a shot of insect spray for the flies, and keep the doors closed?

[Jlynnp]

When we had a cat die under the hay barn we used lime to get rid of the smell. If you can reach it that could work. You could always hire an exterminator to go under and get it out.

[Harry Chickpea]

Tell her some folks from Warrington or Edinburgh recently visited...


Tell her you haven't seen your mean neighbor in a few days...


Lime works, but it does so by stopping the decomposition. You would need to get it on the body. Best to find and remove the body if possible. Follow the flies.

[Muskrat]

Would your mother like to stay in a nice hotel?

[vicker]

Just act normal but, every time she walks into the room sniff and look at her over your glasses.

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by Tiempo

My mother is coming to visit from England on Friday which seems to be perfect timing for a rodent of some description to get in the uncrawlable (for humans) crawl space and go clogs up somewhere in the vicinity of under the kitchen sink.

What can I do? there is stench. And flies.

If the odor is strongest in the area of where the drain and water lines go through the floor an effective temporary odor mask is to seal around the pipes going through the floor of the cabinet with old rags and spray febreze on the rags. Then buy a $3 box of moth ball ventilated plastic packs and toss them under the sink .

The combination will mask the smell of decomposition with the granny's closet smell of naphtha and the moth balls should keep the blow flies out of the kitchen until the decomposing carcass gets consumed.

I had to do it the first summer living in this 70 year old farm house.

[where I want to]

Tell her that you want to treat her like a queen and she is not to set foot in the kitchen while she is there. Or when you pick her up, drive straight to a spa where you reserved rooms for a three day mother/daughter only mini-vacation.
But has she in her life never had this happen? She might have a solution.
But the worst may be over by Friday as flies seem to achieve their function pretty fast. The only time I suffered through this was when something died in between interior walls in an old house and there were no flies. That lasted a while.

[Ross]

If you can get the body out great. If not mask the smell. Then just tell her what happened.

[fishhead]

Maybe put a fan so that it pulls air out of the crawl space. That should help to pull air into the crawl space and then exhaust it to the outside. It will also help to dry it out. Usually things that are moist put out the most smell.

[Tiempo]

Haha, thanks everyone, some good answers

The only way to access the area is to tear up the kitchen floor, not happening. There is a gap around the plumbing so I think I'll just stuff rags around there and put some febreeze on them until the problem resolves itself.

Mum may have not experienced this, the houses two houses she lived in when she was younger had stone cellars, and the hose she's lived in for 45 years is on a slab.

[Harry Chickpea]

"...and the hose she's lived in for 45 years is on a slab."

Those funny Brits...

"When I grew up we lived in a cardboard box, and were thankful for it!"

"Well when I grew up, we lived in a HOSE. And we thought we were living high!"

[sisterpine]

Hey LOL, I almost blew pepperoni out my nose and you made me choke....well I made be choke by reading I suppose.

[Harry Chickpea]

Sorry, but I have to ask...

WHAT on earth were you doing with a pepperoni in your nose???

<edit to add>

... and can we watch?!?

[Tiempo]

[Patchouli]

Originally Posted by Tiempo

Haha, thanks everyone, some good answers

The only way to access the area is to tear up the kitchen floor, not happening. There is a gap around the plumbing so I think I'll just stuff rags around there and put some febreeze on them until the problem resolves itself.

Mum may have not experienced this, the houses two houses she lived in when she was younger had stone cellars, and the hose she's lived in for 45 years is on a slab.

We had trouble with things coming in through the gap around the pipes so we sprayed foam insulation all around them. I think that would kill the smell too.

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by Tiempo

Haha, thanks everyone, some good answers

The only way to access the area is to tear up the kitchen floor, not happening. There is a gap around the plumbing so I think I'll just stuff rags around there and put some febreeze on them until the problem resolves itself.

Mum may have not experienced this, the houses two houses she lived in when she was younger had stone cellars, and the hose she's lived in for 45 years is on a slab.

The "tear up the floor option" was the only option in this house also so when my maintenance man had to tear the floor up to gain wet wall access in the crawlspace after a hard freeze , he built in a hinged door in the floor between the kitchen and living room when he put the floor back down.

Until he has to use the trap door to get into the crawlspace again, it sits nicely under an area rug with a ABS plastic storage box as a wine cellar bin to keep some of my wine cool and in the dark.

If he has to go into the crawl space again he and I can lift the box out and until then if I want a bottle of wine I just roll back the area carpet, open the trap door and use my tact light to light the area around the access door to make sure there are no snakes close or water leaks , open the wine bin box and choose a cellar chill temp bottle of wine, then close the bin, close the trap and roll the carpet back over it

[Tiempo]

Good idea!