Odor from bathroom when cold

[Eric F]

Over the years there has been a decay/sewage (woody/egg?) smell eminating from my bathroom. The odor would almost exclusively occur at night, when the temperature dipped below 50-40F. I just had my whole bathroom remodeled (new tub, tiles, everything), and the smell has become much stronger, yet still only at night (it did occur during the day in the winter, when dark and stormy). It stinks right now, yet yesterday it didn't smell at all. It's making it into the rest of my apartment.

I live on the top (3rd floor under attic) of a walkup/garden apt type building, which has had a history of backed up pipes on the ground level. I asked my downstairs neighbor about the odor and she says she doesn't smell it.

Any ideas? This one is particularly hard to identify because it happens almost exclusively at night. It doesn't smell like it's coming from the pipes.

Should I call a plumber on this, or do people think it might be the walls themselves? Moving is becoming very attractive right now...

[m Ransley]

I could be a bad toilet wax ring, perhaps it should have been doubled up. Is your toilet caulked to the floor .

[Eric F]

The toilet is not caulked. Hmm. The toilet was moved during the remodeling, so maybe you're on to something? I'll probably get the plumber in here.

I can't really identify where the odor is eminating from. This morning it's completely gone, and it's still relatively cold (50F). The water heater is in the bathroom too and there is no smell at all in the closet.

I would say it's coming from the walls, but I'm just not sure. It is disgusting.

[m Ransley]

For years I thought our problem was floor pee till I had a new wax ring doubled, a single with a new floor leaked gas in a year. You could caulk it if it goes away its the ring.

[VRadin]

Last time I had a plumber in to do a toilet repair (too sick for the DIY job) he did not install a wax ring- said he had to replace too many of them due to temp changes and never uses them anymore. Instead he used a fairly large quantity of plumber's putty- formed it into a long snake, put it around the bowl horn, and installed the bowl.

Been in place for a couple of years with no leaks, no gas escaping, and was about 1/2 the cost of the extra-large wax ring or doubling the standard rings.

BTW- a small bit of the leftover putty, about the size of a golfball, is hidden in a crawlspace to see if it's drying out or cracking- nothing yet, still pliable.

[Eric F]

Thanks guys. My back is bad and I can't move the toilet, so I'll have to call in a licensed plumber.

I did watch the remodelers put the toilet back and I'm pretty sure they put in a new ring. Probably didn't do a good enough job, there was also a leak downstairs from my new bathtub.

This problem existed before the remodel, but I don't remember it ever being this bad. Hopefully this will help.