[TheForge] odd smell

[James Allcorn]

Bruce,

Here's a thought on the odd smell, prompted by Steve's comment.

First, a bit of background.

2 wks ago changed one of the water heaters in my home (water wasn't 
getting hot enough to suit the wife and this Covid stuff has her 
bouncing off the wall).  After removing the heater, decided to clean the 
garage closet it sits in and noticed some very small ants (we live in NE 
Texas so all sorts of crawling vermin live here) and thought, ???  
Further inspection, the bottom baseboard looked odd.  Upon removal, 
discovered a significant ant colony plus a thriving termite population!  
Ripped out the sheetrock to about 4' all around and found the wall was 
wet... Culprit is the master bath shower which backs up to the water 
heater closet.  20 yrs ago when we remodeled the shower and had it 
tiled, the tile guys screwed up the shower pan, didn't use a sheetrock 
sealer, poor grout job, etc. etc.

Back to the odd smell, it smelled, not necessarily oily, but funky.  I 
set a fan to dry it for a couple days and smell is gone (it rained 7 
inches that week).  When it dries out will have the entire house 
foundation treated (I think they are coming from outside).

So, investigate wall bottoms (we don't have basements here) w/ an 
icepick or screwdriver to find any soft spots in wood; possibly consider 
a moisture meter, etc.

Likely your cause is something completely different but, it's an off the 
wall idea and may not be applicable at all.

James

Paris, TX

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