How to find the source of the smell?

[Vegangeekgirl]

I had a meteor strike the house which caused a big fire, nobody was killed but it took ages to clean everything.
Now I have replaced everything that had that option when I clicked it, I had the Sims clean everything that needed to be cleaned and moved things that where in their way. I have also looked everywhere with the walls down to see that there was no old food or newspaper laying around outside. The only thing different is a dent in the ground where the meteor struck.
But they still complain there is something that needs to be cleaned outside! I clicked on the moodlet but that doesn't help.
How do I find what causes it that I haven't already tried?

[Chuckles_82]

You could hire a maid for the day? Watch them carefully and make sure they're not having a route tantrum if something is blocked and they can't clean it. Or if you have a neat sim, you can click the floor inside and they have the option the 'clean the whole house'.

[Vegangeekgirl]

You could hire a maid for the day? Watch them carefully and make sure they're not having a route tantrum if something is blocked and they can't clean it. Or if you have a neat sim, you can click the floor inside and they have the option the 'clean the whole house'.

Thanks, I don't have a neat Sim but I'll try the maid option. But do they clean outside as well?

[Ausette]

It could be your mailbox and/or garbage can. There are threads on it here and here.

[Pam]

My husband actually had that exact thing happen in his game awhile back.  Word for word.  Nothing he did ever made it go away.  It's almost like the meteor bugged the lot.  You might try deleting and rebuilding the section where the Sim acts like there's something to be cleaned.  Besides that, you may just need to move your family to a different house.

[Ricalynn]

I had this happen in a dynasty file and it was quite annoying.  Just make sure you double check every possible thing.  It took me three Sim weeks to realize there was a hamper that had to be replaced but I never found the spot they were complaining about to clean.  I never got the dirty moodlet, my neat Sim just got mad every day on both floors that he couldn't reach this one spot in the yard or something.  So also try redoing the roof and any floors that it may be having problems with.  I couldn't get it to go away.

[bshag]

My husband actually had that exact thing happen in his game awhile back.  Word for word.  Nothing he did ever made it go away.  It's almost like the meteor bugged the lot.  You might try deleting and rebuilding the section where the Sim acts like there's something to be cleaned.  Besides that, you may just need to move your family to a different house.

The first time I played a sim after Ambitions was installed a meteor hit outside at the corner of his house.  Whenever he was in the bedroom, the dirty environment moodlet would show up.  I took everything out of the room and dirty moodlet stayed put.  Never had in any other room of the house but that one....that was the corner the meteor hit.   The moodlet would only go away after I moved him to another house...sorry.

[Vegangeekgirl]

Thanks for all the advice, I will try them out. And if all fails I guess it's moving time. But it seems to be outside, around the dent in the ground that the meteor left.

[CowgirlBlues]

When the Meteor killed Billy Roy, there were actually some tiny outdoor lights obscured by bushes that needed to be replaced. And even things that didn't look burnt, or damaged, needed to be replaced, like some hay bales. The maid also couldn't reach one spot of the deck floor that needed to be cleaned, I couldn't see what was blocking her until moving the camera around, and putting walls down.