I've just purchased (and moved into) a new house. (New to me; the house was built in 1994). I noticed when I did my initial viewing was that a single spot in the living room seemed to have the smell of stinky feet. I just wrote it off as an unfortunate personal problem with the previous owner, but even after having the carpets cleaned and moving my stuff in, the smell is still there.
Any ideas how I can go about finding the source of the smell and getting rid of it?
I had an apartment once with a smell like that. It was kind of a mix between stinky feet and wet hay (much worse when wet like after cleaning). That turned out to be the cheap carpet padding they had used. Like you said, you would get used to it fast, but notice every time you walked into the room.
I had to have them replace the padding.
I had a similar case in my place. I moved in and found the carpets badly stained (but no smell). I had them steam cleaned and thats when the rotten smell started. At first I figured it was because they were wet, but even several weeks later, they still smelled.
I was able to eliminate the smell using Arm & Hammer's Carpet Odor Eliminator which is a baking-powder like product that you sprinkle on your carpet, let sit, and then vacuum up. It took two or three applications, but afterwards the smell was eliminated.
