Hi everyone,

I am searching for a professional or an org to help identify a persistent smell in my bedroom. For context, this smell is distinct to this room and doesn’t appear anywhere else in my home.

Here's what I've done so far:

  • I emptied the room, removing all furniture and belongings.
  • The smell seems to be stronger near the walls, suggesting it might be something within the structure.
  • I used a cheap fungal test kit from Amazon, but it didn't show any signs of mold. Given its cost, I'm unsure of its accuracy.

The situation is quite troubling for me because I sometimes wake up feeling unwell after spending the night in this room, although others can barely detect any odor. Sometimes, the smell is so pungent and strong that I can't go back to sleep in the room after waking up in the middle of the night.

**Can anyone recommend any professionals or organizations in Germany that specialize in identifying or diagnosing these kinds of issues?** I'm particularly concerned about potential mold or other hidden problems that might not be immediately obvious.

I have found this so far https://www.luftanalyse-zentrum.de/raumluftanalysen/luftanalysen-kinderzimmer, nothing to do with children just the most comprehensive one. However, I am not confident to not mess up when doing it myself and also I am not sure how much I can trust this lab.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

**Edit**: I am ready to pay for the service.

by home_tech_guy

7 comments

  2. Interesting issue. I hope you can give an update once it’s cleared up.

  3. Another term that might help you searching is “Raumluftgutachten”. Looks to cost from 800 euros though. What type of building do you have? Prefabs from the 70s often have high levels of formaldehyde for example. It might be worth googling the building type and decade.

  4. Cheap options you can do yourself first are to measure humidity. Mould is a likely culprit if humidity is high so a dehumidifier would be solution in this case. You can also buy air quality measurers. Have you tried treating areas you can locate off smell with something that will kill mould? Can a friend help you identify source?

  5. I’d also consider buying an air purifier/filter. I got one cheap with filter, UV and ions etc for under 30 euros that doesn’t need filters replacing and it’s amazing. Transformed air quality.

  6. What kind of smell is it, out of curiousity?

    Is it sickly sweet by any chance and very pungent? Because in that case, something is rotting in the walls or in some vent.

    Which also would be good to investigate, if you have vents and if the smell enters from there.

    Any neighbors to the room? Can you smell it from other rooms adjacent to it? If there are neighbors, do they smell it? Any rooms with water pipes neat by?

    Any hobby rooms/work rooms that could cause the smell? Like, 3D printers have resin/filament that smells bad, especially when in print so to speak.

    Otherwise, follow the other suggestions. Goof luck, I hope it’s nothing too serious.

  7. Is there perhaps an old chimney behind a wall, recognizable, for example, by an over-papered stove pipe connection, an “inexplicable” wall edge or from the outside? Unused chimneys can become sooty and then smell very peculiar, depending on the weather, sour, pungent, dirty-wet, like soot, saltpetre or fermented wort. And I believe that some people perceive this spectrum of smells much more clearly. In a previous apartment, we had this in a child’s room. My daughter complained every day and suffered from the smell just like you. The rest of us hardly ever smelled anything. I only found the chimney after dozens of test drillings.

    Anyway the chimney sweep could also be your man. If it’s dangerous or forbidden, he will sniff it out and know what’s next.

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