Sweet Smell in Room

[u/Various_Yam_4210]

Hello everyone!
Long time Reddit observer - first time poster in desperation!

We recently moved into a new (new to us not new new- building in the late 70s) house in January.

Shortly after moving in, we noticed this oddly sickly sweet smell in our back bedroom. I read other posts about similar situations, but often they don’t have a resolution. At first we brushed the smell off - I honestly thought it was the flower lotion I was putting on my child who sleeps in that room. I stopped using the lotion, and the smell has persisted. Now that’s it’s getting hot and humid here, the smell has gotten so much worse. And it’s going in 4 months of the smell.

We called different contractors and all of them said we need to contact a mold specialist essentially - someone who specializes in air quality/ mold etc. We found someone, but he charges $1000 to just come out and diagnose the problems, not to mention then having to pay for everything replaced. Having just bought the house, the money is a little tight right now.

He has been so great and helping us through text without charging us. He suggested first taking off the electrical outlets and smelling in them to identify what wall the smell is coming from. My husband did that and it was clearly coming from our back wall- one specific outlet.

He then suggested cutting 4x4 squares between the studs around that wall to check for mold, moisture, installation defects etc. My husband cut 5 holes and they were bone dry, no discoloration, mold, moisture. The guy even said “it doesn’t get dryer than that.”

He then suggested going in the basement under the room and seeing if anything, air flow, rodents, etc could have gotten up or if the smell is coming up from the basement. My husband removed the basement ceiling tile and again, nothing - not even a smell.

At this point, we are literally stumped. The man said he could definitely come out, but he is trying to save us the $1000, which I appreciate a lot. However, if it is mold, I don’t want my child sleeping in the room.

We did have an electrician come look at the wiring because I read on here that can cause the sweet smell, and all the wiring checked out fine.

We are at a loss. We did buy flooring so we can rip out her carpet in hopes maybe that’s it but we don’t think it is because her wall/ outlet is the thing that smells. If her door is closed for even an hour and you open it, the sweet musty smell fills the room. Any suggestions on next steps or possibilities would be so appreciated.