What does a meth lab smell like?
Smells like a hospital due to the common use of ethyl ether as an anesthetic. Nasal irritant. Ether-like: Aromatic, sweet odor often accompanied by a sweet taste.
Smells like paint thinners, paint removers, adhesives, and cleaning fluids. Type of odor often found in auto body shops or furniture refinishing shops. Eye and nasal irritant.
Smells like odor found in vinegar, mayonnaise, salad dressings or pickled food. Pungent, acrid, or sour smell. Eye irritant.
Smells like wet diapers, glass cleaners, cattle feed-lots, or fertilizers. A sharp, irritating odor. Eye and nasal irritant.
Note: Meth lab homes that have been allowed to air out for some time may not have any detectable odors. The absence of odor in a home does not mean the home is not contaminated.
Source: N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance Program (HSEES)
Unusual, strong odors (like cat urine, ether, ammonia, acetone or other chemicals).
Source: W.V. Department of Health and Human Services
If your smelling a fireplace burning and the temperature outside is 85 degrees,that,s probably not a fireplace !
Terry,
My family & I have been in this rental home for over three years now. I know the owner’s son who used to live here is a meth addict. I had three cats die within 4 months of moving in here. My new cat is has asthma. I have had breathing problems since days after moving in; my husband has asthma now.
The other day I was in one of the rooms of the house and smelled something like fireplace in several areas of the room. It was a 90 degree day and the fireplace had been meticulously cleaned months ago. Can you explain what you mean about the fireplace smell.
Thanks,
J
LEAVE THAT HOUSE NOW.
One Meth Lab can blow up an entire city block if it explodes ! So ignoring the smells is not a good idea. Call the police.
I am stuck in a apt. whatever they are doing/brewing is toxic!!! The meth smell docs. I have googled match what I have been going through since May 2009. I have tried the police, they did not show, I have called meth lines etc. etc. can’t find a way to handle this.
I have witnesses, nothing; “you have to see them doing it.” WHAT? I have done everything you can name…..nothing! I love my apt. It has been sold twice and we are on the 7th manager (in six years.) The police are so helpful, “why don’t I move?” Why are the victims victimized twice?
Maybe I haven’t moved because I thought I could get “THEM” I can’t just beam up! What can I do to save my home?
Devastated in Spokane
Lynn,
If I wasn’t getting any response to my phone calls, I’d go to the police station and talk to them in person about the situation. As you are probably aware, meth labs can and do explode without any warning before they do. Additionally, the fumes are also putting the health of others in danger, as well.
Something else you could do: When you smell the fumes, call the police and ask them if they can send someone over to “smell” the air. Tell them that you smell meth lab fumes.
If there is an active meth cook in process, they can legally enter that residence because it presents “exigent circumstances”. Basically, exigent circumstances will allow the police to enter a property without a search warrant, because they have reason to believe that there is an immediate danger present. Otherwise, police need to have a search warrant, before they can enter a home without permission. In order to get that search warrant, they would need to have sufficient evidence that your neighbors are running a meth lab.
Good luck!
I sympathize with your terrible situation. I just moved into an apartment and within a couple of days waves of noxious odors started flooding the apartment. It is so bad that I literally can’t eat in my apartment ( the smell is overpowering. I’ve now been here for two weeks and I can no longer sleep because I am overheated and my heart is pounding. The only thing I can think is that the chemical used to create the “speed” effect is effecting my profoundly.
I too have told my manager, called the police, had the fire department come out and generally do the good citizen practical things. I also received the response that “I have to be able to prove it”. The local police (Chico CA) told me they had no intention of even knocking on the door of the apartment next to mine where this powerful saturating odor come from because they “don’t go around scaring people without cause”. I suspect that even if I die in this toxic environment it will go unnoticed and unabated.
If you see someone stealing a television set you call the police and they respond. Evidently, since our sense of smell identifies this heighness crime it is not as reliable as our sense of sight. What’s wrong with this picture. How many thousands of innocent people are being exposed to these horrible chemicals and having their health destroyed because we are such a lazy and selfish culture? How many children and elders live day in and day out in apartments, houses, and mobile homes suffering the same way we are? And how many will die and/or grow up to be addicts and manufacturers as a direct result of our complacency?
I have signed a 12 month lease and my landlord says they won’t let me out of it since I can’t “prove” the smell is toxic. I guess I will move out and either keep paying for an apartment I can’t live in or…or what? I feel like I am suffering the consequences of bad choices that I have never made.
OMG Hi Ann,
Have not been to meth lab homes for months! I am so glad to have a reply, I did move to another apt. across the street it was bad too! Paid for six months on two apts. you have to sign a six mo. lease before you can move in. I love my home, moved back, rather be poisoned in a apt. I like.
I really need someone to talk too about this if I try to tell anyone, they look at me like I have two heads! They don’t have support groups for those who only think they are living under a meth lab. The “Meth lab smells I have read about, are exactly what I have somehow managed to survive. I have unlimited long distance. If you need to talk, maybe we can find away to handle this. I even googled doctor Phil! Thinking that Patty Murray our Wa. state senator, might be a possibility. Spokanes “finest” are concerned with “click-it or ticket, protecting adults from themselves, but what about from Meth monsters??
You need to get out of there NOW. I just experienced the same thing; the chemicals also seep into your possessions, and I am having to give up nearly everything I own. The contamination is like an invisible powder, that very easily gets onto anything your possessions come near. If you want to prove it is meth, you can use this kit developed by NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control (the CDC); however, I did this, videotaped the entire thing starting from the front of the house to the positive result, put it on youtube and sent the link to everybody including the Chief of Police and the Health Department, and still NOBODY did anything to help me, despite the fact that there are at least five local and state agencies who are supposed to help. I paid a thousand dollars to a industrial hygienist to do tests, got a report proving overt contamination, widely distributed this report, and still nobody would do anything to help me. A test might help with your landlord. Get yourself to safety, get your possessions that you absolutely need (birth certificate, picture of Grandma, minimal stuff), and think in your mind that the rest of your things were destroyed in a fire, because you cannot have them in your home and be healthy. You might seek the help of your local legal services to navigate the situation with your landlord, but that apartment is not habitable. You will most likely lose almost everything you own, there is nobody to sue, and the health effects will be awful – but you HAVE TO get out NOW, your health is the most important thing.
The best way to describe the smell is like plastic model cement, but more pungent, stronger.
Thanks Dean….appreciate your input.
been around people who clean up meth lab homes and the new method the shake and bake does not smell like the red p or the nazi method. you have to look for the other warning signs. the ones that i was around working with last year they cleaned 50 and only about 5 had the smell with them please don’t just go by the smell look for the signs, your health and the childrens health and elderly is a lot more important. i have beem to talk to Senators and only 1 in 5 will listen you must keep talking!
Yes agreed. You should advise police, and for heaven’s sake leave that place. Drugs wreck lives in many more ways than one.
As I was walking my dog this afternoon i smelled a rotten egg/chemical smell. I know what this smell is, and it isnt natural gas. I immediatly contacted the police as my town has a unsatisfiable hunger for meth. Only a single fire truck showed up, asked me where the smell was and simply left. I can tell that this individual house is a squat house. It is abandonded, and still I see people in and out all hours of the day. I have reason to believe they are actually protected by the police. After I told them my location they ceased the emergency protocol and hung up. Now I know how gang warfare works. But I never thought in this small town.
Hello, my name is David. Im smelling a Foul Smell kinda like dead animal or rotten eggs and im wondering cause my next door loser is well known for drugs, what could it possibly be? i need to know. could it be sulfur and not drug labs? should i leave my home? please help me with my problem.
Meth lab homes,
Thank you!! I was not aware that: “exigent circumstances”. Basically, exigent circumstances will allow the police to enter a property They the police did not advise me of this! “Unfortunately we can’t go in you have to see them.” unquote.
Too bad I don’t have a xray camera or vision! We will try exigent circumstances. If I don’t it is no,if I do, it probabably is no but it could be yes!
ANN,
Have a idea, that would end a lot of controversy, Potential citizens would have to have mandatory drug
testing twice a week untill yhey are citizens!!. After all,why should they be eligible for the same rights we have untill they become citizens. Random testing for at least a year.That would be the price they pay for
being here.
Fair housing is not fair, when only people from other countries are treated fairly!! Mad as heck !#@***!!
Auschwitz Spokane.. Gasoline,, rubber,, ether, eyes watering, throat burning, can’t breath or swallow, The only thing that makes me feel good is knowing how bad it must be up close and personal, working with all these chemicals. Maybe they will O.D. or get help? I don’t care what adults choose to do to themselves, AT ALL!!
Keep the anchovies on YOUR half of the pizza and enjoy.
Lynn
To Kimberly,
Thank you! It is so insane that “they” the “justice system” will not help! we can police 3rd world countries, but not our own. The oxygen mask gos to “them,” not first, but INSTEAD!… Cool.
When are we going to have charity START at home?
Lynn
We just moved into an apartment away from home for my husbands work and we noticed strong chemical smell. We thought at first it was just because they painted. We cleaned, used candles, sprays and everything to take the smell out. We went back to our home after a week and then I could smell chemicals on our clothes. I had to re-wash everything because it was so bad. We called the apartment management and they said they would do something about it. We got back a week later and now it smelled like bleach and they put in an air purifier. I started to look around and on top of the cabinets I found a sticky layer of residue. It was black and in some places yellow. I found black dust in the corners and hard to get places the cleaners obviously didn’t get to. Our friends live next door and have normal dust on top of their cabinets. The manager at the complex said they would send cleaners back to clean to to bottom. We have two young boys and I am worried about the smell now that i have been doing research. Does this sound like it used to be a meth lab? Its strange though because its not a horrible apartment or in a bad area. Its a nice gated community. Any input on what the smell could be would be helpful. Smells like paint thinner/spray paint. Thanks!!
Heather,
Meth can be made anywhere, including some very nice homes and apartments located in some very nice areas. Based on what you’ve smelled and seen, I would definitely get the apartment tested for meth and have someone check the air quality in the apartment. Even if meth wasn’t made in your apartment, it could still be contaminated, if the HVAC /heating system adjoins to other apartments.
Suggestions:
Keep your windows open as much as possible to dissipate the chemicals that are in the apartment.
Call your local police department and explain the situation, including the fact that you have children. Ask them if they any records about the apartment or records about the previous tenants. Making meth is just one way of contaminating a home; smoking meth can contaminate it, as well. Keep in mind that police only find about 2 or 3 out of every 10 homes where meth has been made. If they don’t have a record about the apartment, it doesn’t mean that meth wasn’t made or smoke there.
Call your local health department and see if they have any records about the apartment. Tell them about the situation and ask them if they have any records about the apartment being used to make meth. Ask them if they can test the air quality in your home.
You can buy meth test kits online, however having a professional test your home is a better way to go, in my opinion. You may miss things that professionals won’t and test results from a certified professional are better for you to have if it ends up in a court battle over rent money paid, lease agreements, etc.
If you want me to help you research the situation, send me the address of the property – through my contact form – and I’ll see what I can find out for you.
I am currently living in a leased home that has a strange pervasive odor – its smells like a mix of smoke/wet drywall/chemical type odor. The home has been extensively remodeled inside prior to us moving in; however cabinets/appliances were not replaced. According to the local police, the previous owners did use crack, and now I am beginning to wonder if they were manufacturing meth also.
When we leave our home the smell is on all of our belongings – I can even smell it on my six month old’s hair and mine, even immediately after a shower. After doing some research I am terrified that there may be something harmful in our home, possibly meth, but no one will help me – I have spoken with the health department, EPA, and the state health department, all to no avail. Our landlord keeps saying he doesn’t know what it is and has done things like provide air fresheners, odor killing powder for the basement floor (small area where fuel oil may have been spilled in the past) and offered to send a cleaning lady to clean the basement (he thinks it may be a fuel oil smell), but none of these things have helped so far. The smell cannot be masked by any amount of air freshener and our clothing smells terrible even after being freshly laundered. I have no idea what to do at this point. Do you think the odor may be meth? I cannot fathom what else would cause such a pervasive smell and I was informed that proper testing could cost upward of $4,000, which we do not have. At this point I just want out of our lease and to get our deposits back so that we can move, however I don’t think our landlord will allow it and we have several months left on the lease. I would love to hear any thoughts on this.