Why does this bedroom smell like pasta?
August 10, 2024 10:35 PM Subscribe
It’s our first night in a rented beach house. One of the bedrooms has a distinct pasta smell. Why??
The bedroom has no adjoining bathroom or even a closet. The bedroom is right at the front of the house and the door has been open the whole time I’ve been here, so it’s getting plenty of air. The house is a standalone building, not sharing walls with any other residence.
Yet there is an unmistakable smell, which others have noticed (so it’s not just me), and the best way I can describe it is like a pot of cooked macaroni before the cheese is added. No other room in the house has this smell, and the house overall is quite clean—I think some corporate entity handles the property management and housekeeping.
The last people to rent this house were here either within the last day or they’d have left almost a week ago (we just had a hurricane here).
There’s no evidence of any messes that were cleaned up, like an actual pot of pasta that spilled. Or vomit (although when I think of that smell it’s more acidic, and more like macaroni WITH cheese not plain noodles?)??
It’s just driving me nuts and I would love to hear some possible explanations. Especially if we can rule out vomit.
The bedroom has no adjoining bathroom or even a closet. The bedroom is right at the front of the house and the door has been open the whole time I’ve been here, so it’s getting plenty of air. The house is a standalone building, not sharing walls with any other residence.
Yet there is an unmistakable smell, which others have noticed (so it’s not just me), and the best way I can describe it is like a pot of cooked macaroni before the cheese is added. No other room in the house has this smell, and the house overall is quite clean—I think some corporate entity handles the property management and housekeeping.
The last people to rent this house were here either within the last day or they’d have left almost a week ago (we just had a hurricane here).
There’s no evidence of any messes that were cleaned up, like an actual pot of pasta that spilled. Or vomit (although when I think of that smell it’s more acidic, and more like macaroni WITH cheese not plain noodles?)??
It’s just driving me nuts and I would love to hear some possible explanations. Especially if we can rule out vomit.
I would be suspecting maybe butyric acid as found in Parmesan cheese, rancid butter and, yes, vomit. As well as sources like ginkgo seeds.
posted by rongorongo at 3:07 AM on August 11
posted by rongorongo at 3:07 AM on August 11
I would think if it doesn’t have a sour / vomit smell then it’s not that. I would suspect some kind of mildew re: recent hurricane
posted by seemoorglass at 6:39 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
posted by seemoorglass at 6:39 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
Mildewing, or murky water collection in/around window sills?
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:32 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:32 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
Is the room wallpapered? It could be starch in the wallpaper paste. If it's still humid from the hurricane, you're more likely to smell it than if it was dry and sunny.
You can pick up a blue light from a Big Box self-improvement store and see if it's barfy remnants in the living areas. The other possibility is that a crawl (or even attic) space got wet during the hurricane. That may be the source of weird smells.
posted by dancinglamb at 10:52 AM on August 11
You can pick up a blue light from a Big Box self-improvement store and see if it's barfy remnants in the living areas. The other possibility is that a crawl (or even attic) space got wet during the hurricane. That may be the source of weird smells.
posted by dancinglamb at 10:52 AM on August 11
Vomit smells incredibly distinctively like vomit. I would not worry about that at all.
Starch sounds much more likely to me.
posted by knobknosher at 1:07 PM on August 11 [1 favorite]
Starch sounds much more likely to me.
posted by knobknosher at 1:07 PM on August 11 [1 favorite]
Long shot, but maybe someone was burning this very expensive candle?
posted by dizziest at 1:59 PM on August 11 [2 favorites]
posted by dizziest at 1:59 PM on August 11 [2 favorites]
I don't have an answer, but this might help others find a scientific commonality: the air coming out of every new hair dryer I've ever purchased smells like pasta. It takes several weeks to cease that scent/odor. Could it be something coming from a forced air duct?
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 3:13 PM on August 11
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 3:13 PM on August 11
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posted by blnkfrnk at 12:14 AM on August 11 [3 favorites]