Have you looked in your crawlspce for an actual skunk?

Skunks are nocturnal, is it possible that what you're smelling is a skunk coming home in the early morning? Normally they burrow dens but will take advantage of man-made structures as well.

Experience helps in identifying odors. Being reared in the country helps. After cleaning out lots of animal stalls of all kinds, I can identify the animal source of manure being spread on fields when I drive by. Skunks-- I once shot and only wounded one. The next shot finished the job. Between shots, he did his odor thing BIG TIME. I can identify skunk smell.

So I popped the hatch to the attic and stuck my head up there and it smelled like a dusty dry attic, nothing out of the ordinary.

Last night's experiment was to leave the heater off all night and see if it effected the odor at all. And when we woke up in the morning, there was just the mild lingering odor, instead of the awful choking cloud that greeted us the last two mornings. So, there does seem to be a connection.

The guys who installed it suggested we try running just the fan, to further isolate the cause and I'll work on that tomorrow. Thanks to all for your suggestions and anecdotes.

I'll just tell this anecdote in hopes it may give you some ideas in tracking down the source. I once had a dead animal smell in my kitchen, but it was intermittent. It lingered for days, but it would come and go a bit. I looked everywhere for a dead mouse or rat, but couldn't find anything. The smell was too strong to be coming from the attic or wall, but again, it would go away a bit.

Finally, in a frenzy of tearing everything out of cabinets and cupboards, I realized it was strongest near the bottom of the refrigerator. I found the dead mouse in the drain pan under the refrigerator. We theorized that it was the fan from the auto defrost that made the smell better and worse.

I'll also say that skunks sometimes get spooked and will spray just enough to linger in the air, but not actually to spray onto something. I often will smell skunk spray outside my back door, where the dogs' fence is, and I think it's from a skunk venturing too close to the fence, getting barked at and spraying as it runs.

Does it smell like fish? If so, that is electrical.

Foxes sometimes smell like skunk, too. I think it is their urine, so maybe if there are foxes in your neighborhood they are marking your house in that area and the heater is intensifying and spreading the odor.

I had somewhat a similar issue in my house. we recently purchased a 6 year old house.

I noticed a strange Garlic like smell coming in the basement and one room above it and the powder room.. The smell was pungent like garlic. I thought that it could be because of cooking and ignored it. The smell went away after few hours. we initialy thought that it could be because of the furnace as the smell came after we turned on the furnace. Then one day we get the same smell almost after 10 days(this was on the day we dint turn on the furnace). now its in a different room,(upstairs- second bedroom) and no where else in the whole house. I made sure its not coming from the ducts(i coundnt smell anything there), The staringe thing is that it goes away of its own after few hours. we have this garlic like smell almost 10 times now in last 2 months.

I got the furnace cleaned/serviced just incase it was causing it. I got the same smell yesterday in one of the front room on first floor and in the 3rd bedroom.(in opposite direction) facing the outside wall and no other room in the entire house

Thing that drives us crazy is that none of my friends have experience this before and I dint had any luck searching online too about what this could be.

The smell is pungent and very close to garlic( its not when we are cooking food) cos we got it once when we dint cook anything that day . I am sure its not from cooking .

Not sure if any insect or rodent can have that kind of a smell cos if the smell come from one room and there is no smell in the adjacent room.

Just want to make sure its not any toxic gas or anything to worry about.

Hi Maybe a ballast for a light . Maybe outside that works on a sensor.
Woodbutcher

You no doubt have possums. Call a pro.

We have experienced the same odor. I have concluded, that our issue is because, after our renovation we had fewer vents and a blocked vent in the crawl space. The smell was most apparent when that one vent was blocked, which I believe created a moisture/ air circulation issue and possibly a mold or mildew growth issue. Wind patterns and temperature changes during the day may explain why you notice it more at night. Either way, I would suggest you check your home's vents. Make sure they are secure enough (with thick metal screen) to keep rodents out, while also open to allow air circulation.

We have the disgusting burnt garlic smell in hall and kitchen/ living areas...it is worse this summer. I doubt the house is old enough to have blocked vents. I shall send the man on a hunt.

Omg!!! I just googled this phenomenon because it happened to me last night early this morning. It was about 5am and it woke me up. I leave my bedroom window open at night. It smelled like rotting onions. Sooooo strong i woke up gagging!!! Walked through the whole house thought oh crap did I leave something on in the kitchen, but as soon as I walked away from my room nothing. I closed the window and the intensity stopped however the smell lingered a little. Tired I went back to bed after I doused the room in spray. The smell is no where this morning. Soooo strange. And no it’s not a skunk!!

Oh my goodness! Have same issue and it’s only at night. At first I always think someone is cooking Meatloaf or something Italia. Then it gets very unpleasant. The next day it is gone. And it’s not every night.

Same here, burnt garlic like smell comes in the eveniallng and all year round and not every night, it stays a few hours, then gone as quick as it came . It's allways upstairs and one side of the house, l've looked everywhere for a solution but not found one. It's strange that not one person knows exactly what causes it, l defiantly reckon it's a gas of some sort. We all need an Aromachologist to help us out on this one, to identify the cause, becuase it can only come from one single cause and scenario. I hope one of us get's a solution soon.

Okay. I’m kinda psyched to find out that I’m not the only one. However, I’m not psyched that there’s no real conclusion here. What is it? Dead mouse under the fridge drip/drain pan? Opossums? Skunks? Some other phenomenon? I want this smell OUT of my house. It comes every year, without fail, mid-Spring through Summer. What is it?!

Wall odour from matt paint. Smell your walls exposed to sunlight and heat.

I live in a Senior residence and this has happened to me twice and last night was the third time. It happens in the early morning hours between 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM. Strong smell of garlic that is overpowering. I asked my upstairs neighbor if she was cooking over night and of course she said no she was fast asleep. As this is intermittent it really bother's me as there is one site that states sometimes gas is made to smell like garlic so it can be identified. I can't figure it out. No vents are attainable via animals, etc. I'm very frustrated and tired at this point as I don't know what to do to find out the reason this is happening. Please post if anyone has a clue. Have a good day and stay well.

I had this strange smell in my place off and on, I found this article and am going to try the things suggested...It makes total sense. https://www.bartons-lumber.com/content/what-strange-smell-my-bathroom

I have the smell around here, i live i a tiny house offgrid. No vents no electric, but boy did i notice an out of the ordinary stench that comes and goes. We cant pin point it . Not the dogs, not the trash, not me or my chickens or turkeys. Got me scratching my head. Happened a time or 2 before that and my neighbor smelled it at his place as well. The mystery deepens also i am familiar with skunk, this is different. It literally smells like a rotting onion

I live in CO and had a similar experience, turns out pot smells like a skunk. Any teenagers lighting up at night?

Mine turned out to be a rotten egg under my porch

Very interesting to read these comments. We recently moved into a house that has been vacant for at least 3 years. Prior to moving in, a small leak in the family room was fixed with drywall removed and mold removed. There was also a dry wood termite issue that was remediated. After moving in I noticed a rotten garlic/ trash smell. I thought it might be the trash in the garage. Trash was removed and AC units were serviced and the smell continues. The next plan is to have the air ducts cleaned out And UV lights installed in AC units. Any ideas if treatment for mold or termites can leave a stench like this? Perhapse the dead termites?

Growing up, we had an issue like this. Same smell, same intermittent issue. Turns out it was a dead cat in the crawl space.

We finally got to the bottom of the garlic smell in our house. We found that the previous owners had rabbits. Rabbits urine and poop can give off an "oniony" smell once they become sexually active. The smell did not appear until our carpet was cleaned and was always quite bad on the most humid days. We used a black light on the carpet and there are many "dots" that show up all over the carpet in the areas with the strongest smell. We used a pet odor removal powder on the carpet and the smell became almost non-existent. The smell is coming back, particularly on the humid days where we can't air out the house. The carpet cleaners said the smells are likely trapped in the padding. We are going to tear out the carpet and padding.

"The carpet cleaners said the smells are likely trapped in the padding."

Would not be surprised to find it has soaked into the subfloor as well. You may want to seal that when you have the carpet removed.

We moved into our new house late August 2020. It’s an older home, 1950s but not ancient. Every time I’d go up to my husband’s home pandemic office I’d notice a McDonalds, greasy onions garlic smell and no one in our house eats fast food. I’d give him hell thinking he left food in the trash from the day before or something but I’d check the whole room and there would be nothing. Soon I realized it’s always the same exact fast food smell. I was constantly opening windows to air it out. Then a couple weeks ago I noticed the same smell, only stronger in our board games closet, on the far other end of the house, far from the kitchen and my husbands office. Now its in my 7yr olds room as well but only in the evening. It’s been getting cooler so I’ve used the hvac more lately and usually only at night so I thought maybe it could be that...but then why my husband’s office in September? Why fast food? We have been having trouble with several outlets only working intermittently so after reading above I’m going to have someone come check the electric again. It was checked by the previous owner just before the same when he had all the knob and tube taken out, and then briefly by our house inspection at the sale, and again when everything blew when we plugged in our toaster oven the day we moved in. I had two outlets replaced and the electricians say everything’s ok but my blender only works on occasion, our tv power strip goes out intermittently and our phones only charge half the time. Do you think the greasy food smell and the electric are related? Any other ideas if not?

It sounds like it’s coming from your crawl space under your home.

I have the same smell in my house. l let my dog out, and when I let back in is when I smelt it for the first time. The smell was like burnt onions and garlic. It was so strong it liked to make my eyes water. I thought it might have been a skunk. But quickly realized that the smell was eminating from my dog. He was violently shaking his head side to side. I thought that maybe he got into a fight with a skunk. But he didn't smell like he got sprayed. Turns out he ate a garlic mushroom. Or a wild ramp ( a wild onion ) both of which grow in the spring and summer months. Especially in areas where it has rained quite a bit more than usual. I live in Massachusetts, and we have had an abnormal amount of rain for this year as well as some cooler temperatures. In any case, the smell still eminates only in the front room. I can't keep him from eating the mushrooms, nor can I stop the mushrooms from growing. It's just a small that I have been getting acclimated to. Not very successfully either. I might add.

Any updates from anyone? Would love to know if you identified the source of the weird garlic smell. Experiencing the same thing and wondering if it could be mouse urine.

Hi K Harchen. We just endured another round of that awful onion-y smell. It comes and goes here. We've determined that it's prevalent around the fridge, and during very rainy or humid times. Perhaps it's something to do with the hoses leading into the fridge? Dunno. Good luck!

I'm trying to get ideas of what may be going on here -- I have an occasional smell of garlic powder. Smells like I just took the cap off a jar of garlic powder. The smell lasts anywhere from just a passing whiff to a couple minutes. It just started, two months after the heat has started cutting on in the evenings and happens only when I am in the family room portion of the great room. There's nothing on the stove, and no foods out on the counters.

You've got possums. They excrete a onion garlic fermentation smell from glands.

You're dog got hold of one. They're getting under you house and will not hibernate if they get into a warm

The neighbor's dog kills possums, rabbits, squirrels, etc. And what he doesn't kill the hawks take care of. The house is sealed at the base; only time anything has been in my yard is under the shed some 200 ft from the house.

That's what it is, call an exterminator and they'll confirm. I've dealt with it personally.

Thank you. I'll mention it to the 'bug man' when they come out for their regular spraying. I've not smelled it since my original post. . . . maybe they just wanted a little attention and have now moved on :0)

I've also got this same issue, smells like wild garlic, very intermittent but most noticeable in the evening, occurs in all weather's, cold, warm, dry, wet, in different parts of the house at different times, I'm all electric so definitely not a gas leak and I'm in the UK so definitely not Skunks or Possums as we don't have them here!

There are more of us out there! I'm having the same thing and it's driving me nuts. Some days it doesn't smell while on other days it's really strong. It's a warm, pungent wild garlic smell. Also in the UK and desperate to sort it out as I was gagging this morning and I keep having to blast essential oils to little avail. It seems to only be in our bedroom and is worse when I open the doors of the wardrobes. I'm at a loss! I thought it could be food from one of the neighbours' houses, but it can smell for days at a time and always smells the same. It's so strange. Good luck!

Wow i would have said it was a rotten egg for sure!, but by now thatd be gone... w as it unless there is an ild nest. Do you or neighbors have chickens/ birds ?

When we purchased our house the basement was carpeted and the owners said they had a fan on because the carpet was damp as they had shampooed it. We didn’t think much about it until we purchased the house and at certain times of the day and night there would be this stench. We ended up ripping out all the ceiling and wall drywall and found that the Septic O Pipe was leaking that runs the width of the house. So every time a toilet was flushed it was dripping .
We changed the pipe and now it’s gone. We also had a really bad smell in one closet in the basement, we pulled that apart and didn’t find anything , then we ended up pulling the landing off the staircase and there was a cavity where one of the previous owners had put a new landing over an old landing, there had to have been 100 dead mice in the cavity, it was so gross my husband almost passed out when he pulled it apart.
Now we have no mice or gross smells. It’s really a buyer beware on some things, this stench was probably there for many years and the owners didn’t know what it was so they just lived with it.
Never know what behind drywall.

Same here, it always seems to be up near the bathroom/closet. I'm thinking the boiler. It's getting booked in for service so will let you know if that solves the problem. Would give you a headache at times, so strong.

Has anyone had any luck figuring this out? Also in the UK and in an apartment complex on the first floor so not animal related. A strong garlic/onion gas-like smell coming from the kitchen sink drain for almost 2 weeks. Used multiple drain cleaning products over several days, took the trap off from under the sink and checked the pipes - all clear. My neighbour on the other side of the aparment building has said he has the exact same smell. We aren't sure if it's related to venting - don't have a comprehensive understanding of plumbing but it has to be something common to our apartments.

Call a plumber and have him check out the vents for the plumbing on the roof.