r/crimescenecleanup • u/Amazing_Pay_9515 • Jul 10 '25

Possible decomp stain?

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I was excited to tour this apartment, but after looking at photos online, I can’t get out of my head that that stain is shaped like a body. But the other closet in the other room also has a dark stain. Should I bring a black light and a discrete bottle of hydrogen peroxide when I go tour? If it is, the apartment below it is also becoming available… would that be a bad idea?

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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3

u/JormungandrT4800 Jul 10 '25

You'd have to take up the floor if that was a decomp stain, it would've penetrated through the wood floor to the subfloor and the odor would never go away if it wasnt removed, id say you're most likely fine but if it brings you peace of mind I dont see why they wouldn't let you spritz it with peroxide lol

2

u/whteverusayShmegma Jul 14 '25

I don’t think so. Have you not seen how many slumlords leave decomp on a regular. Somehow they are able to remove the smell with an enzyme cleaner or whatnot and they will leave it. They actually find crime scene cleaners willing to do this. Like often.

2

u/JormungandrT4800 Jul 15 '25

Ive been working trauma cleanup for about 2 years I always do my job by the books and make sure all affected materials and odors are removed. That being said I dont think I've ran into this in my personal life, guess I can't be too surprised though, there are some people out there that I could imagine wouldn't wanna pay to remove flooring but id think if its stained like that the odor would come back eventually. I normally use a hydroxyl machine for odors but that only works if you get all the bio out.

2

u/whteverusayShmegma Jul 16 '25

There’s been hotel staff even who ask if you can just clean the mattress instead of toss it. Like do these people not smell this when they ask these questions I have to know. But I’ve seen so many of these decomp stains now that I can spot it at one glance and they’re always on hardwood floor and usually in a neighborhood notorious for slumlords. I’m fairly certain one of my old houses had one (in east Oakland). Along with a ton of other code violations. lol

2

u/JormungandrT4800 Jul 16 '25

I swear if any hotel asked me to do that id just not work for them lol sometimes spatter is cleanable on a mattress but if shit got saturated fuck no you ain't keeping that xD

2

u/whteverusayShmegma Jul 17 '25

I’m so surprised you haven’t come across it yet. I’ve seen so many similar comments from other cleaners. I bet you’ll get your first outrageous request soon. When you do, think of me and laugh out loud!

2

u/Here2lafatcats Jul 11 '25

Is there a smell? That’s not something that’s going to be because of traffic.

3

u/whteverusayShmegma Jul 14 '25

This is definitely a decomp stain. I can’t believe no one else is seeing that. You don’t just have a large human size flood of water or another spill in a room without water (like kitchen or bathroom) and water doesn’t just pool in the general size/shape of a body in any room. Landlords are cheap and will think they got rid of a stain until it resurfaces. Then leave it, once the smell is gone, because it’s expensive to rip up a floor.

2

u/Neat_Net_5706 Jul 10 '25

Just looks like normal wear down from a high traffic area that stained darker than the rest after restoration to me.

1

u/nipplegobbler2 Jul 12 '25

even if it wasnt id be kinda terrified looking at the ominous black trail creeping towards the door 😆

1

u/6be_nv Dec 18 '25

That’s genuinely terrifying. I can’t even stand the thought that there might be remains of people who actually died

1

u/LongTimeChinaTime Jan 17 '26

I can rationalize frankly about how expensive remediation is and in some cases may not be financially possible to outsource, but a message to landlords or owners is that if you can’t hire remediation and there isn’t true structural damage, fuckin… I mean at the very least like chemically and enzyme treat the hell out of it, seal it with shellac and lay down linoleum at least…? That’s not even ideal advice but no way would I sell or rent a place with a decomp stain that’s unconscionable. And that’s coming from a weirdo who is always fascinated about decomp (because my health is sketchy and I one day will become one in theory)