Strange smell - laburnum tree?
 

Dear all - I need experts who can help!

I have had a strange smell in my house at certain times in the year
from the time that I bought the house. We were to have massive
building works done and I thought that perhaps the source would be
uncovered at that time, but it was not and now the smell is worse than
ever! It smells almost identical to domestic gas. It was so bad one
day we actually called Transco but they said there was no gas present.
It seems to be 'activated' on warmer days especially in the sun.

We have a laburnum tree in the front drive and the smell is always
worst in the room opposite the tree. It then seems to waft up into the
top rooms at the front later on. When you actually sniff the tree it
doesn't smell. The reason I thought it might be the tree is that I've
just been walking down the road when the smell stopped me in my
tracks. I looked up and hey presto - a Laburnum tree!

Does anyone know anything about this? It can't be anything to do with
the roof, bricks, windows as these are all new. The other thing is
that this year there have been more flowers on it than usual as we had
it pruned the winter before last. Could it be something to do with the
roots?

Any ideas? I'm desperate to get to the bottom of this!

Thanks

I have never noticed scent from laburnums, but apparently they smell strongly of vanilla.

Yes! Laburnum has a very strong fragrance. I have had many problems with it, since I am allergic to peanuts and all trees in the fabiciae family. I have had to move out of apartments in the last because there was one nearby.

I currently moved in to an apt. that had a Laburnum straight outside the bedroom window, but the landlord agreed to cut it down. Still, there is that strange smell in the apt., specially in the bedroom.

Did you have any luck getting rid of the odor? It makes me very dizzy and if I can't find a solution we will have to move out again.