ᐅ The wall suddenly smells like marijuana and stale beer.

Sorry for the late reply, we were only able to start clearing out today... yes, we have identified the culprit or rather found its nest made of my dog’s hair, a lot of nutshells, and mouse droppings.
In the past few days, I had already set a trap, but the creature actually escaped from the live trap (which was only a cheap model...). So unfortunately, its life was at risk, but it hasn’t yet fallen into the “kill trap.” I’m still trying...
Today, I cleaned everything as well as I could in the gravel bed and sprayed it with vinegar (which supposedly helps according to the internet) – I hope it will either leave on its own or finally fall into the trap.

The reason the smell stops in summer might be that it moves out because it gets extremely hot under the WPC (wood-plastic composite) and the veranda roof in summer... Or does anyone else have another idea? Spring residence... haha!

Many thanks again to all the tip-givers and those following this closely! I hope you will also figure out where the culprit is hiding! Definitely keep me updated!

So is it really mice? I never would have thought so because mice usually have a different "smell"... here, we definitely have a tenant at night who is crunching. But I wouldn’t have expected the smell to come from a family of mice. Luckily, they will move out soon, and we hope it will stay quiet next year.
The funny thing is, it always happens at exactly the same time of year.
Let’s see.

Hello Stefanie D. and Käsekrümelchen,

We have been living in our rented house for eight years and have the same problem. Especially in spring, there is a strong smell of marijuana (sometimes also reminiscent of beer, but very sharp and unpleasant). The smell appears in our living room. It seems to come from the floor or beneath the floor. We have a wooden floor (oak wide plank flooring). The smell comes from the corner near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Since we have an open floor plan, the smell spreads throughout the whole house and it is very unpleasant. After airing out the room, the smell returns immediately. We mainly notice the smell in the evenings, at night, and in the mornings. From about 1 p.m. it decreases and starts again around 8 p.m. We had the same problem three and four years ago. It always occurs in the spring (starting between February and April) and disappears after three to four weeks. I suspect it has something to do with moisture somehow getting into or under the screed. Ideally, we would need to remove the flooring in those areas to check if something is rotting or leaking, but since we rent the house, that’s difficult. Our landlord doesn’t take care of it and considers us overly sensitive.

Right outside the window is our terrace. However, we sometimes find small black droppings there, possibly from mice. So, I’m not sure whether the smell is caused by moisture coming through leaks under the screed or the wooden floor, or if it comes from mice living under the floor.

Earlier, I covered the areas where the smell seemed to come from (as far as I could locate) with plastic sheeting and tape, hoping that the smell will not flow into the room as strongly. We’ll see if it improves.

I’m interested in hearing about your experiences.

Later, I will place animal repellent devices on the terrace in front of the affected windows to see if that helps.

Please keep me updated!

Best regards

Käsekrümelchen schrieb:

So it really is mice? I never would have thought that because mice usually “smell” different… here, for sure, there is a tenant crunching at night during that time. But I wouldn’t have guessed that the smell comes from a mouse family. Luckily, they’ll move out soon, so hopefully it will stay quiet next year.
The funny thing is that it always happens exactly at the same time of year.
Let’s see

For us, it also always happens at the same time. We have complete peace during summer, autumn, and winter. Inside the house, there are no signs of mice, no traces, just the smell. I haven’t heard any noises in the living room yet. We don’t have pets either. Interestingly, we didn’t have this issue last year or the year before but had it during the four years before that. Since it always occurs in spring and goes away during prolonged warm, dry weather, I’ve so far thought it might be related to moisture or the groundwater level. We also had it once in midsummer during several weeks of heavy rain.

blueday schrieb:

Hello Stefanie D. and Käsekrümelchen,

We have been living in our rented house for eight years and are facing the same problem. There is a strong smell of marijuana especially in spring (sometimes also reminding me of beer, but very sharp and unpleasant). The smell occurs in our living room. It seems to come from the floor or underneath it. We have a wooden floor (oak plank flooring). The smell comes from the corner near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Since we have an open floor plan, the odor spreads throughout the entire house and it’s really disgusting. After airing out the room, the smell returns immediately. We notice it mostly in the evening, night, and morning. From around 1 p.m. (13:00) it decreases and starts again around 8 p.m. (20:00). We had this problem three to four years ago as well. It always appears in spring (starting between February and April) and goes away after three to four weeks. I suspect it has something to do with moisture somehow seeping into or under the screed (concrete subfloor). Ideally, we would have to remove the floor covering in those areas to check if something is rotting or leaking, but since we rent the house, that is difficult. Our landlord does not take care of it and portrays us as overly sensitive.

Right outside the window is our terrace. There we also sometimes find small black droppings, which could be from mice. So I’m not sure if the smell is due to moisture coming through leaks under the screed or wooden floor, or if it is caused by mice living under the floor.

Earlier, I covered the areas where I could pinpoint the smell with plastic foil and tape, hoping it will reduce how much the odor spreads into the room. Let’s see if it gets better now.

I’m interested in hearing about your further experiences.

Later, I will put some animal repellent devices on the terrace in front of the affected windows to see if that helps.

Keep me updated!

Best regards

Käsekrümelchen schrieb:

So it’s actually mice? I never would have thought that because mice usually smell different… with us there definitely is a tenant crunching at night during that time. But I wouldn’t have guessed that the smell comes from a family of mice. Luckily, they will move out soon and then hopefully everything will be quiet next year. It’s funny that it always happens exactly at the same time of year. Let’s see.

Yes, they are mice! I wouldn’t have thought so either since it comes back at the same time every year. Apparently, someone moves in then. For now, everything is fine except that the vinegar-like smell sometimes still gets in a little.

I am now trying everything possible to keep the critters away... I will report if peppermint oil helps.

blueday schrieb:

For us, it always happens at the same time. We have complete peace during summer, autumn, and winter. Inside the house, you can’t see anything—no signs of mice, just the smell. I haven’t heard any noises in the living room yet. We don’t have any pets either. Interestingly, we didn’t have this problem last year or the year before, but it did occur in the four years before that. Since it always appears in spring and disappears with prolonged warm, dry weather, I’ve so far assumed it might be related to humidity or the groundwater level. We also had it once in midsummer when it rained heavily for weeks.

I find it a bit strange that the humidity only appears in spring, considering the rainy days throughout the year. Also, the room of our daughter on the upper floor smells, but the room below on the ground floor doesn’t. We have a half-timbered house with drywall (plasterboard) walls. So, mice can’t be ruled out. They have helped themselves a few times in my pantry, even emptying whole bags of pasta. Inside the house itself, I haven’t found any droppings yet. But at night or in the early morning hours, it can often be clearly heard. There are scratching and crunching noises from time to time. At the very top, under the attic (which is fully converted), in the bedroom, this year as well. I can’t reach that spot, though, because it’s right under the roof ridge.

In my daughter’s L-shaped house, there’s a crawl space, but no one is willing to go up there. This crawl space runs above our son’s room—where there is no smell—and also above the hallway. There is never any odor there or in our son’s room. Only at the back by our daughter’s room. But it isn’t foul or strong; it’s just strange, almost like something is “blooming.” It appears suddenly and then disappears just as quickly.

blueday schrieb:

For us, it always happens at the same time. We have complete peace during summer, autumn, and winter. Inside the house, you can’t see anything—no signs of mice, just the smell. I haven’t heard any noises in the living room yet. We don’t have any pets either. Interestingly, we didn’t have this problem last year or the year before, but it did occur in the four years before that. Since it always appears in spring and disappears with prolonged warm, dry weather, I’ve so far assumed it might be related to humidity or the groundwater level. We also had it once in midsummer when it rained heavily for weeks.