Strange Smell

HI,

I Purchased a house 6 months ago, no one had lived in the house for a year prior to my buying it. Both the front and rear gardens both over grown so we flattened them both

The Front garden was covered in the material that stops weeds, when we ripped this up there was a strange smell, that we put down to the soil being covered up for so long.

We plan to change the front garden into a an extra parking place so currently have bare soil, no recently the soil has started to smell, it isn't a drain smell but an odd smell which is hard to explain. We have the same smell in some bare soil in the back garden, we have no idea what is causing the smell but wuld like to be rid pf the smell as you can smell it from the path at the front of the house.

Thanks

Whacky

 

Strange but true ..
Was the membraine covered by bark/wood chips ??
Is the ground clear or have any type of plants on it ?

Dave

 

Stagnant clay or indeed sand smells pretty unpleasant I got rid of loads when I dug mine

 

The membrane had grass and plants growing over the top, which have all been dug up and the membrane removed, I havent planted anything as the plan is to turn it into a driveway.

The soil does have patches of moss growing on it and looks to be full of clay, when the weather gets better I will be digging a fair amount of it up to prepare for the driveway so hopefully the smell won't upset our neighbours

Whacky

 

Were the previous owner maybe storing something that gave that smell on the soil? It would be useful to have some clue from the neighbours.
Does the smell come from the surface of the soil or from within the soil?
I think that if you would contact the "Environmental Protection" they would give you more clues. What if it is something poisonous?.

 

With the cold weather the smell went with the ground being frozen solid (-14 some nights) the smell seems to be worse after rain but isn't as bad when the ground is dry. The soil is hard and very compact so havent dug it over. As the weather has been to bad

 

Stagnant clay usually smells more when disturbed.In my area (Northamptonshire) often smells like sulphur but only while digging out..

Dave