I am staying at a friend’s house for three nights. There is a TERRIBLE bleach-like smell, stronger upstairs, but also strong downstairs. I do not have a sensitive nose and have no major allergies or anything. I have survived by staying in my room and coming out mostly for meals and keeping the window wide open and the ceiling fan on the whole time. At meals, though, the smell starts to get to me by the end of the meal and I’ve been holding my hands or sleeve near my nose so I can smell them instead. Which seems to work. They recently moved into the house and have done some painting; they also replaced the carpet. Could one of those two things be causing this smell? It smells a lot like bleach but has a sweet element too. What’s weird is it is making me mad/depressed. I know this sounds crazy, but the smell is making me mad/almost depressed. Has that ever happened to you? I’ve never reacted this way to a smell before.
Did I mention that it’s making me mad/depressed? 
Smells can affect your moods, they’ve done scientific studies on this. They are a part of/tied to memories, and have emotional things tied into them. For me, the smell of lilacs always makes me smile and feel happy and carefree, because I remember the smell from my childhood. IIRC, some stores use this idea to help relax customers and get them to spend more money by wafting certain smells throughout the store. Can you brace yourself, and see if you can track down more precisely where it’s coming from? Do you know what was recently painted? Does your friend maybe put bleach in the toilet, or has she soaked something in bleach, or cleaned something big with comet? Could it even be some kind of toilet bowl flush device? Some of those are scented sweetly, and also have bleach in them. Good luck.
have you asked your friend about it? does she smell it also? very strange indeed. if you haven’t talked to her about it yet you definitely should asap.
Well, if this were CSI: the new carpet, newly painted walls and smell of bleach…
Who was murdered in the house, and when?
Could it be the water? I have well water where I live and I find that when I visit places with chlorinated water it takes me a while to get used to the smell.
Thanks for the input so far. I have tried to determine where it’s coming from, but it’s more of a pervasive all-encompassing smell – I think it’s in something that’s everywhere. I think it’s far too strong to be just a toilet water or water thing. These people are more like friends of friends I guess – I’m staying here with another friend who is more their friend – I’ve mentioned it to her, but it would feel rude if I said something to them. I do wonder what they are breathing all day every day.
Ha, CSI! Maybe I better get out of here…
Latex paint is something that makes it hard for me to breath, and I’m very aware of even a one inch wall patch being painted. The smell is somewhat like a bleach smell and I will make that my guess as to what bothers you. The smell is a problem for at least two weeks and can take a month to disapate enough not to bother me.
This sounds the most likely. I am going to find out in a roundabout way if that’s what they used. Thanks.
Meth lab?
The sweet chemical smell could also be the new carpets. Sometimes they are treated with pretty harsh chemicals, and I certainly have felt ill jsut being in the same room as new carpets. It could also be due to rubber latex padding underneath. I worked in a department store, and couldn’t go anywhere near the carpets or rugs due to severe allergic responses I would get. Even while unrolling freshly-imported and expensive Karastan rugs, it was obvious that they had been soaked in some type of gasoline-like substance for preservation during overseas shipping.
For me, fresh latex paint has more of an ammonia smell. My nose is pretty sensitive, and the combination of new paint and carpet would drive me crazy also.
I would also guess that it is not healthy to be breathing all the fumes also.