# My house stinks and I've got flies. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693 "2003-09-10T05:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/1 "2003-09-10T05:06:17Z")
Yep. It smells BAD. The type of smell that takes your breath away. It’s not the dogs or the gerbils or the lizards, but my damn water bottle tank. It seems that there was a small crack in the 5 gallon plastic bottle and it all spilled out on my dining room rug. Through the carpet, through the pad and soaking the subfloor. It was like this all weekend. My little bissel steam cleaner was no match. By Sunday, it smelled of old wet carpet and mold. Great fucking smell to have invading your nostrils while making coffee, huh? So, I leave the windows open, half don’t have screens. So, now we’ve got tens of flies (I won’t be over-dramatic and over-estimate this problem). I catch them and feed them to my lizards. They are nasty flies too. They fly right into your face. I hate them. I enjoy watching my greenies, Eddie Lizzard and Inguana-de-vida eat their nasty little bodies. I think I can catch about 15 a day if I were counting. But who counts such things? So the “carpet restorers” came to remove the pad, I’ve got a huge fan under my carpet and a dehumidifier running all night. And it still stinks. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/2 "2003-09-10T06:03:26Z")
Just from water? That doesn’t sound right, dude. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/3 "2003-09-10T12:13:22Z")
Me too. Think a lizard would help? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/4 "2003-09-10T14:16:35Z")
Have you done a thorough corpse search, just in case? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/5 "2003-09-10T14:44:43Z")
Say, have you lost a ring recently? To someone named Bilbo? Can you say the phrases “We hateses Bagginses”? ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/6 "2003-09-10T14:53:30Z")
I hate to tell you this but if you’ve got flies and a damp place, the maggots can’t be far behind. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/7 "2003-09-10T16:15:48Z")
I had a similar problem with my water heater springing a leak last winter. It flooded my entire living room and I had to get the carpet replaced (not to mention the water heater itself). I’m glad it happened in the winter and didn’t have flies to deal with, though I still had that damn musty smell. Did your homeowner’s insurance cover this problem? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/8 "2003-09-10T21:30:26Z")
I left a Banana in my kitchen, then left for Montana for a week. Fruit flies are everywhere, and I doubt I’ll be hungry for a banana for a while, after smelling the rotten one. I feel for ya. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/9 "2003-09-11T00:57:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lezlers \* > \*\*Just from water? > > That doesn’t sound right, dude. \*\* Water, if not cleaned up _immediately_ can create a hopeless stench from mildew and other assorted molds. In my last apartment, and underwater stream flooded my living room – just enough to saturate the carpet. My landlord have to cough up $10,000 to re-water proof the foundation and I lived with Sniffs\_Markers for two months. It was just water, but the carpet was hopelessly rotten and the stench was unbearable. The carpet had to be replaced, after the floor was bleached to kill all the yucky stuff. You’d be surprised at how nasty a wet carpet can get. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/10 "2003-09-11T04:22:50Z")
Well, the smell is STARTING to go away. Sadly, the Northwest fall has kicked in and drew in very humid weather after 2 months of sunny days. The guys at the carpet restorers left the de-humidifier with us and I’ve emptied about a gallon of water today. What a mess! Unfortunately, we live across from a horse stable, so the flies are part of daily life here. And NurseCarmen, I feel your pain with the fruitflies. We had a friend house sit and she left an open 1/4 bottle of red wine in my very sunny kitchen. I vacuumed up hundreds of those little fuckers. No kidding. The carpet people are great they are going to clean the entire carpet…BUT if this smell lingers, the water company will feel my wrath. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/11 "2003-09-11T04:26:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by coffeecat \* > \*\*Me too. Think a lizard would help? \*\* In a word, Yes. If you enjoy such entertainment, pony up for a lizard. They are amazingly fast at catching flies, moths and crickets. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/12 "2003-09-11T04:36:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \* > \*\*I left a Banana in my kitchen, then left for Montana for a week. > > Fruit flies are everywhere, and I doubt I’ll be hungry for a banana for a while, after smelling the rotten one. > > I feel for ya. \*\* Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.–Groucho Marx ---
**Author:** ![thatDDperson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@thatDDperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatDDperson)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/13 "2003-09-11T06:10:06Z")
Get a couple of gallons of Febreze… ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/14 "2003-09-11T13:25:47Z")
We have a yellow lab/golden mix who likes to eat flies, shall I send him over? I used to have a leopard gecko named George. I bet he’d have loved those flies! ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/15 "2003-09-11T21:56:13Z")
Eddie Lizard. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/16 "2003-09-16T17:53:17Z")
OK, this is getting out of hand. Last Friday they came to pick up their equipment. Carpet is dry, smell is gone…BUT, yesterday the gent who was supposed to come put in a new section of pad and clean the carpet said he wouldn’t be able to get the stain out. So, now my entire living room and dining room are in my family room. I’ve got a half-ripped up carpet with no pad and the poor carpet people have to go back to the water co. and file a claim to see if I can get a new carpet. I just got these rooms painted and got everything the way I wanted it and now literally half my house is bare and the other half is stuffed with the free furniture I’ve collected over the years. Hopefully, this will be resolved before my in-laws get here. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/17 "2003-09-17T11:02:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\*In my last apartment, an underwater stream flooded my living room – \*\* :eek: That’s pretty damn unlucky! ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/18 "2003-09-17T17:26:59Z")
I would just move and start over. I bet you have maggots crawling out next. Followed by the Blue Bottle Fly. And everyone knows Blue Bottle Flies love to circle dead bodies. It will only be a matter of time before you are history! Take cover now. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-house-stinks-and-ive-got-flies/200693/19 "2003-09-17T17:41:37Z")
Isabelle, concentrate on obliterating the East Coast, it’s very disconcerting to know that a Hurricane has become an entymological expert on flies… 😃 Sam