October 29, 2026 at 6:55 pm

A Man’s New Apartment Smells Horrible And He Can’t Do Anything To Fix It

by Matthew Gilligan

man holding his nose

Shutterstock

Ahhhh, this brings back some memories…

When I moved into my first apartment in Chicago many years ago, I was hit with a curious smell…

For some reason, I hadn’t noticed it when I toured the place, but once all my stuff was moved in, there was no turning back…and it was going to be a smelly ride!

I did my best to cover up the bad smell in that place, but I never really found the cause of it.

What a year it was!

But enough about me: check out what this guy had to say about the smelly apartment he’s dealing with.

My Apartment Smells And I’m Going Insane.

“I just moved to a different state and I wasn’t able to view the apartment before I moved in so I have an interesting issue.

My apartment stinks and I genuinely cant figure out for the life of me what it is. It’s a little musty but also kind of rank. I’ve never smelled this smell and I can’t even describe it.

Oh, no…

I’ve tried every product under the sun to get rid of it, including and ozone generator, which didn’t even touch the stank. I also leave the windows open upwards of 4 hours a day with zero change.

It’s a new build too (<5 years old) so I’m really not sure what it could be. I do have a split unit AC but its been cleaned out a few times since I moved in (it had a markedly different stink which has since been resolved).

The smell does not smell stronger in one place or another (I have put my schnoz up to every surface and hole in this apartment and have not discovered a source).

These folks are useless…

The property manager/ maintenance are no help whatsoever either, as they don’t really even understand what I’m talking about (they don’t speak very much English).

I don’t even know anyone out here to come sniff my apartment to help identify what this is either, so I’m kind of at a loss.

Is there anyone I can hire to come help me out with this? I was thinking a house inspector but I don’t want to shell out $300 for someone to come and be like “yeah boss, I don’t know.””

Check out what readers had to say about this story.

This person shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2026 10 20 at 5.19.10 PM A Mans New Apartment Smells Horrible And He Cant Do Anything To Fix It

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.

And another Reddit user weighed in.

Screenshot 2026 10 20 at 5.19.20 PM A Mans New Apartment Smells Horrible And He Cant Do Anything To Fix It

Ugh, this sucks!

Good luck to him…

There’s a whole lot of stinkin’ going on in this guy’s apartment!

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