A homeowner in the Midwest was left scratching her head when she was getting a bad smell in her house, searching all over for the source. When the construction workers outside moved away, she suddenly realized what the likely cause was.
The Reddit user took to the social media platform to share the experience, explaining that she thought she was "going crazy for a while."
The woman, who lives with her husband in a house they bought in February this year and wishes to remain anonymous, told Newsweek: "It smelled like a dog chew, almost like a pet store. Not at all like sewage, which is why it was so hard to identify."
In the post, which has received over 40,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments, the woman explained how she searched all over her house for the source of the smell, eventually realizing that it was likely coming from the portable toilets being used by the construction workers outside.
"I would be relaxing on my couch, or putzing around doing chores and I would get the weirdest smell," she wrote in the post. "It smelled almost meaty and sharp. At first I thought my dog had hidden a chew or bully stick somewhere. I tore my house apart!"
The woman was cleaning her house top to bottom to try get rid of the smell, washing the walls, furniture, base boards, appliances, and everything else she could think of. She has cats, and she thought for a moment that they might be the source of the strange smell, but "cat pee is so distinct and this was not cat pee".
"I was worried maybe a mouse had died in the wall," she told Newsweek. "I also wondered if it could be the litter boxes, but they are cleaned frequently and, like I said, it wasn't a sewage/waste smell. We also changed our air filter before it was due just in case."
"We worked so hard to buy our house this spring and I felt dread thinking something was in the walls and I couldn't get to it, or there was a bigger hidden issue. But what could cause an occasional smell? There was no pattern, just sometimes. And then... it was gone," she said.
Once the smell disappeared, she finally realized what was causing it. "There has been construction on the road in front of our house since mid-August," the Reddit user wrote. "About a week ago, the construction crew moved to a parallel street to continue the project. Around the same time I stopped smelling the rotted meat smell.
"Do you want to know what moved with them? Their giant red stupid f****** porta potty. There's nothing wrong with my house. I was just downwind of seven to eight men's worth of p*** and s*** for two months."
In the Midwest, the average house price in 2021 was $139,000. According to the U.S. Census, there have been over 1 million new homes built in the U.S. in 2024.
Many Reddit users took to the comments of the user's post to share their thoughts, with some revealing that they have had similar experiences.
"As a construction worker I feel for you. When the sun hits those bad boys it's f****** horrible," wrote u/PearlHarbor_420.
"Not work related, but I experienced this at a music festival once. It was three days into a four-day festival. Someone left a mountain of poo in one portaloo. Never again. I almost vomited," said u/MambyPamby8.
Meanwhile, u/irishpwr46 commented: "I have pictures of them because people didn't believe the conditions that construction workers have to live with. I also had a picture of a wall thermometer hanging inside one reading over 120 degrees."
"The way you described it, i was convinced something was seriously wrong with your house. just imagine the relief of knowing it was just a portable potty," wrote u/NatureYogaStar.
u/cherrygirlbabycakes said: "I feel you on this. There's a brewery in the next town and they are indoor/outdoor. They don't have inside bathrooms... only porta potties outside and there's six of them. Idk [I don't know] how people sit there and enjoy their drinks when the wind is blowing and it smells awful."
Has your home ever turned into a nightmare? Whether it's a burst pipe, unexpected renovations gone wrong, or any other house disaster, we want to hear your story. Let us know via life@newsweek.com, and your experience could be featured on Newsweek.
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