I'm at work and my wife is telling me that there is a strong metallic odor in our almost 1 year old's bedroom. We have been out of town a few days and just came back. Any ideas what this could be? The house was just built 6 months ago.

Has she checked the rest of the house? If so is it only in that room?

dampness is causing rust...I will come sniff it out if you would like me to as I have a terribly sensitive nose!

To me, human blood smells like rust because of the iron content and as a nurse I could open the door of a darkened patient room and know there was going to be a mess waiting.

Have yall run a vaporiser? Could be three metals in the water

You have a dog?

Ok, so here's the update.

I got home last night and checked the smell. It seems more like a polyurethane or some other type of synthetic smell. It isn't really metallic, or like the smell when you first turn your heater/ac on for the first time in awhile. I checked the faucets,drains, toilets in the house and ran all of them to ensure we weren't having some kind of issue with the p traps. I checked for anything that might have been left in either room to cause the same smell, but didn't see anything. The smell doesn't seem to be in the bathroom or closet of the room in question, just the bedroom. All other devices are turned off in the room. We did just put a fan in the room, but that has been turned off for awhile now as well. We didn't notice this smell until we got back from being away for 4-5 days either, and this was probably a couple of weeks after the fan was first installed. We do have dogs, but the havent been at this house for the same 4-5 days that we were gone, and they just aren't allowed in that room any way. The room had a humidifier in it before, but we unplugged it and confirmed that it is not the source of the smell either.

It is very strange that the garage and bedroom have this smell, because there is hall space and living room space between this room and the garage do not smell at all. Also, the master AC is linked with the room that smells and the master doesn't smell.

I am stumped, but I don't want my daughter sleeping in that room again until we figure out what is going on.

as far as her bedroom goes...check new toys for the plastic smell...maybe a kiddie pool in your garage awaiting warm weather?

we had kinda the same issue with our 1 year old, but could never really describe the odor, not gas, not paint, but something strange, and it only was noticeable at night (perhaps b/c we were not in there much during the day). I think it was out A/C unit as we had recently switched from heather to cooling. I adjusted the thermostat to make the unit kick on and it appeared to dissipate fairly quickly.

So are there any materials that are in the garage that are also in the room?

And have you checked the attic to see if you can detect the smell up there anywhere?

Maybe check the outlets to make sure they aren't warm when in use...could be heating up the outlet covers or insulation on the wiring.

[This message has been edited by Texker (edited 3/26/2013 2:19p).]

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Sometimes, dust/dirt can accumulate and stick on the electric strips, which is then burned off once the aux strips energize for the first winter use. Or, there may be a problem with the strips themselves.

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maybe a battery that busted open?

I'd be tempted to run a PID in those areas if it were my home, but that may just be the environmental nerd in me coming out.

AC drain line anywhere nearby in the attic? Ours came lose (at a joint) when something else was being done in the attic and it was a while before it was noticed. I had blamed the smell on the dog till I walked in the spare bedroom and stepped in a puddle. I also had to move the diaper pail completely to the garage. Nothing completely contains THAT smell.

Anything with a control board that burns out has a distinct metallic smell & taste.

AKA 13-0

There are no common items that I could find between the garage and this room.

I checked for any obvious issues like busted batteries and checked all the outlets to make sure that wasnt the issue.

I am starting to notice that the smell is creeping into our bedroom which is on the same AC unit as the bedroom in question. I am not sure if it is just crossflow between the two rooms through the ducting or something in the unit itself that is being disseminated through both rooms. The fact that it is in the garage is what is puzzling me about the whole thing. As a precaution, our daughter isnt sleeping in the room and the AC unit is off until someone comes out to check on it. I have gotten home really late the past few nights and havent had a chance to get up in the attic and look around. I hope to do that tonight.

The smell is changing though and I think it is getting stronger. I am concerned it is something inside the walls that is going to be tough to isolate.

maybe a dead mouse/rat/squirrel in the walls

OA_02 we seem to be having the same issue, the smell came back yesterday for us. It seems to only be noticeable at night, same with you or can you smell it 24/7?

It seems to vary in intensity throughout the day. I am not sure if it goes away and comes back or if it just gets stronger at different times throughout the day.

It is weird that it seems to be in the room itself, but not the closet or bathroom.

I just had a 2-day experience with metallic odor in a bedroom. My cause was that a spiral CFL light bulb was blinking the first day and was dark by the second day. This bulb was part of a fan/ceiling fixture.

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