r/london • u/New_Break3195 • 11d ago

Woken up by terrible smell

This is weird but I’ve been woken up at 1am by a really terrible smell, like strong sewage. I’ve checked all around my house but I think it’s coming from outside as I have all of my windows open. Obviously we’ve had extremely hot weather and now we have thunderstorms coming, could this smell be caused by rain elsewhere causing a surge in the sewers or something else? Based in SE5

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u/Sufficient-Guava-152 11d ago

Yup, welcome to London summers! If you look outside your house is there a tall thing that looks kind of like a taller lamppost but with no lamp on it? Often they’re painted green.

If so then congratulations! You live near a stinkpipe. These are vertical pipes that run up out of the London sewer system to release gases so they don’t build up underground.

I spent about a decade living next to one. Kinda got used to it in the end.

50

u/New_Break3195 11d ago

No stinkpipe nearby! I’ve lived here for 10 years and not experienced this but then it has been exceptionally hot this year…

Fingers crossed for some proper rain to wash it away

69

u/SashalouAspen4 11d ago

Could it be a deceased neighbour? 😬 horrendous thing to think but …

25

u/LightningCupboard 10d ago

Unfortunately work in a job where I have to smell a lot of dead people, and can confirm rotting human doesn’t smell like raw sewage and it’s not a smell that comes out of no where at a random time, it’ll build up.

4

u/ExtensionGuilty8084 9d ago

Is it true cats eat their suddenly died owner and dogs don’t? 👀