garbage boy stink man
March 12, 2019 8:36 PM Subscribe
Why does the hallway of my apartment smell like trash?
Every public hallway (so, not inside of our apartments, just where you get off in the elevator) in my apartment building smells good, which is a thing I realized today after having to go up and down to every floor and bunch of times for reasons to complicated to explain here. But they do, they smell great, like nothing, in comparison to my hallway which has smelled like the inside of a garbage can for as long as I have lived here and I am losing my mind over this revelation. We ALL have trash compactor chutes in our hallways. It's not coming from inside my apartment. Where is it coming from? The room with the trash compactor and the hallway smell the same, so maybe it's broken?
Most importantly, how can I soft pedal this problem to my landlord who hates me for asking him to fix problems? Is it even fixable?
Every public hallway (so, not inside of our apartments, just where you get off in the elevator) in my apartment building smells good, which is a thing I realized today after having to go up and down to every floor and bunch of times for reasons to complicated to explain here. But they do, they smell great, like nothing, in comparison to my hallway which has smelled like the inside of a garbage can for as long as I have lived here and I am losing my mind over this revelation. We ALL have trash compactor chutes in our hallways. It's not coming from inside my apartment. Where is it coming from? The room with the trash compactor and the hallway smell the same, so maybe it's broken?
Most importantly, how can I soft pedal this problem to my landlord who hates me for asking him to fix problems? Is it even fixable?
You have a neighbor who is gross. I once had a neighbor who had some kind of... nonstandard diaper disposal situation going on? Which made the hallway smell like a sewer. Is there a particular doorway where the smell is the worst?
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:26 PM on March 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:26 PM on March 12, 2019 [3 favorites]
I bet it's coming from the trash compactor chute and being sucked out into your hallway because of some airflow issue.
Safely(!) burn a little incense in the trash compactor room and see how strongly you can smell it in your hallway, then if you can, look at the seals on the door of the chute and go on from there.
posted by jamjam at 11:43 PM on March 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Safely(!) burn a little incense in the trash compactor room and see how strongly you can smell it in your hallway, then if you can, look at the seals on the door of the chute and go on from there.
posted by jamjam at 11:43 PM on March 12, 2019 [2 favorites]
Is the hall floor carpeted? Perhaps someone's bag leaked something on the way to the compactor and the odor is stuck in the carpet?
posted by NoraCharles at 4:42 AM on March 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by NoraCharles at 4:42 AM on March 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
I know that smell, it's like the liquid that accumulates at the bottom of a dumpster. If someone carried or dragged a bag down the hallway and it leaked, now that liquid is in the floors or the walls. Hopefully you don't have carpet.
I'd ask the landlord if the hallways can be cleaned and deodorized.
posted by mookoz at 7:37 AM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'd ask the landlord if the hallways can be cleaned and deodorized.
posted by mookoz at 7:37 AM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Update: the hall isn't carpeted. It's a wooden (?) or like concrete or something floor. I went to see a friend in the hall below us and they now have a smell too although ours is still worse. This was before trash collection so it's making me think it IS a compactor problem. I'm also on the top floor if that matters.
posted by colorblock sock at 10:11 AM on March 18, 2019
posted by colorblock sock at 10:11 AM on March 18, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Jubey at 8:59 PM on March 12, 2019 [1 favorite]