"There's a whiff in my cupboard, dear grandma's dear grandma's...........

How many of us have now, this morning, gone and sniffed our kitchen cupboards?

Why is it 'grandma's'?

I get a whiffy kitchen cupboard just before it rains ! I thought it was just my old kitchen units but it's happening again with the new one . There's a drop of about 10 feet under my house I sometimes wonder if it's the 'water table ' ?
I trust the smell like a barometer - it never fails me . I can smell it right now so know not to put my washing out !

A dead mouse is not a smell you forget. Nothing smells as bad in my opinion.

We had a strange smell in our fridge once and it turned out to be a piece of smelly cheese. It smelled a bit like a dead mouse but not as bad.

Sorry Ana, Hudl thing!

The cupboard in question is on a North facing wall, the cupboard to the left of it (used to store baking tins, the food processor, the slow cooker and the incredibly ancient rotisserie) also has a bit of a whiff, and is always colder than the other cupboards

I have also found that the laminate floor in that area feels colder underfoot (I don't wear shoes indoors)

It sounds like wet rot to me. I bought an old house; one bedroom had about 6 layers of wallpaper one on top of the other. When I stripped it off I let out a loud scream, and a plumber who was working in the house at the time came running. The wall over an old unused chimney had an extensive and revolting "tree" of rot which when exposed reeked of an earthy smell.

Can you get wet rot in houses built reasonably recently, I.e. 2005?

Yes. If wood is in contact with water, it will rot. Even contact with a brick wall with a faulty damp-proof course, or something bridging the cavity between an inside wall and an outside wall that gets very wet can let enough damp through to cause rot.

Can you get hold of a damp-meter? Do you know any surveyors? (or enthusiastic DIYers)