I've had a really bad smell in my bathroom for a couple of months. I've looked everywhere I can think of - cleaned the plumbing under each sink and poured cleaner in each sink / bath drain. The smell gets stronger in the afternoon.

What do I do? Do I start tearing out a wall? Will bugs eventually eat the thing and the smell go away? Just live with it?

Who do I call for that?

The smell is coming from the opposite side of the bathroom.

Does it smell like sewer gas?

Would bet the AC condensate line drains into your sink's drain pipe and molding sediment has built up

I would first try and see if this is coming from any of the drains (shower, sink, etc). Hair can sometimes get down in them and catch other debris. That can cause a smell.

OK if NOT the plumbing and positive in-the-wall, then best if you drill some gyp.bd tiny holes to sniff exactly where it is to mitigate demolition to come.
"Worse in afternoon" could suggest West sun heats up the smelly wall? or less likely, drain pipes not getting water flow in hours previous to fill the gas backflow in the P-traps

Google or BBB: Handyman to demo gyp.bad, remove stink, plug/foam entry holes, then replace gyp and add insulation
Other handyman sources are Home Depot, Ace Hardware .....
Why pay extra referral money to those coming from Angie/etc.?

We had a squirrel (almost positive) fie in a wall near our bathroom and it stunk for a couple of months. And that was in the summer months when I would've thought it would've broken down quickly and went away.

AgResearch said:

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Mouse or rat dead in a wall doesn't stink for months

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https://cbsaustin.com/amp/news/local/remains-in-wall-of-houston-home-identified-as-missing-woman

Neighbors reported Cerruti missing in February 2015. Her home in the Heights neighborhood was later sold at a foreclosure auction. The new owners discovered the remains in a wall space after noticing a broken floorboard in the attic in March 2017.

Follow up - I think it may be my vanity.

It has 3 drawers on each side and they have started having a weird dust in the them. I wiped out one side a week ago and will wipe out the other today.

But smelling around inside the drawers and the cabinet base, the smell is really strong.

no clue about where the dust is coming from but I guess there could be a leak that rotted the backside of the vanity?

Had a possum die in the attic on top of the wall between 2 rooms. 1 room had an electrical outlet and the smell came down between the sheet rock of both rooms and out the electrical outlet. Took several weeks to figure that out

OK not pipes ... cabinet source - good investigation

A vanity cabinet odor can occur from moisture that has gotten trapped in the grain of the wood and has not been able to dry out, causing the growth of bacteria, mildew, or mold.

Bacteria can have a variety of smells, e.g. body odor/sulfer/cheese, rotten eggs, flowers, browned butter, corn tortillas, etc.

The smell of mildew is commonly described as a "wet socks" stench.

Mold smells musty, stale, and earthy, and is often described as similar to the smell of wet socks or rotting wood. The smell can also be pungent and unpleasant.

If you're getting a musty smell, the first thing you're going to want to check is if you have or had a water leak that does not have to be from the pipes.

Thank you! I'm afraid I'll need to move the vanity away from the wall to see if there is damage.

P.H. Dexippus said:

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AgResearch said:

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Mouse or rat dead in a wall doesn't stink for months

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https://cbsaustin.com/amp/news/local/remains-in-wall-of-houston-home-identified-as-missing-woman

Neighbors reported Cerruti missing in February 2015. Her home in the Heights neighborhood was later sold at a foreclosure auction. The new owners discovered the remains in a wall space after noticing a broken floorboard in the attic in March 2017.

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Oh no. That is so sad!

Weird update: We had 2-3 days of good rain and the smell went away for a couple of days.

It's back now, but I thought that was weird.

aggiebrad94 said:

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Weird update: We had 2-3 days of good rain and the smell went away for a couple of days.

It's back now, but I thought that was weird.

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I've had this same problem in my master bath for several months. At first I thought it was a vent leak. I've had the system smoked (not cheap) and it came back with a mixed bag of results. I've also cut multiple holes in my vanity and even in the master bedroom.

I eventually caulked around a window above the vanity (the ceiling slopes up from the other side) as there was none. We had so much rain this spring; that's when the smell really kicked in. Once the rain eased up, the smell wasn't so bad.

I'm still trying to find the source as I'm not confident it was the window. Maybe it was and it's just taking a long time for whatever got set back there to dry out.

The smell is strongest under my side of the vanity and it was the worst around 4-7 pm.

Three weeks later, hope the smell has left the building sooooooooo
those here would love to learn The Answer to This Puzzle now ......
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