Elias Yoder has reported:

A video lists 11 places and items that can contribute to a stale smell in a home, from upholstery and carpet to drains, appliances and heating filters. It explains that people can become accustomed to a smell after being around it for a few minutes, making it harder to notice what visitors may detect soon after entering.

The speaker recalls a lesson from his grandfather when he was 11. After scrubbing the milk house, he said it smelled fine, so his grandfather sent him outside for the time it took to fill a bucket. When he returned, he noticed the smell of the barn. The speaker says a nose detects changes, while a constant smell can stop registering.

The video says soft materials absorb odours from cooking, damp and dust, then release them gradually. It points to a sofa and unwashed curtains, carpet and foam underlay, a washing machine’s door seal and drawer housing, towels and bath mats stored in a warm airing cupboard, and a vacuum that may blow smells back out when it runs. Other items named are an unused drain with an evaporated water seal, a sponge and waste grinder splash guard, a slow leak under the kitchen sink that can swell chipboard, refrigerator seals and its drip channel and tray, the bin itself, and a heating filter and duct cleaning.

The speaker says three related subjects have separate videos: mattresses, airing a home properly in winter, and damp rising through a building’s structure. The damp video is suggested for a musty smell that is worse in one room or returns within a day of airing. To check a smell when a person cannot rely on their own nose, the video recommends leaving and returning to assess the first 10 seconds, asking someone who will be honest, or checking the places that hold odours directly.

A smell that appears suddenly should be investigated rather than addressed simply by airing the home, the video says. It warns that hot plastic or a fishy smell when there is no fish may indicate hot wiring. If there is a gas smell, it says to leave the house, avoid touching switches and call from outside.

The speaker says these odours are almost never a sign that a home is dirty. He contrasts a spotless home with shut windows, wall-to-wall carpet, heavy curtains and an old sofa with a shabby home with bare floors and open windows, saying the list does not reflect on the person who lives there. He describes a plain house as having little upholstery, no wall-to-wall carpet, windows opened routinely, laundry dried on a line and no plug-in scent products, with fewer materials to retain smells and more moving air.

The video asks viewers to comment on which of the 11 items they checked while watching, and says the washing machine seal is the one the speaker would wager they checked. It also promotes a complete “Amish Home-Saving Method,” with a claim that it can save $6,000 a year, at eliasyoder.com.