toilet problem

Earlier today I noticed the bathroom smelled really rank, and the smell wouldn't go away. I assumed the seal under the toilet had broken and was letting sewer gas into the bathroom, so I lit a candle to help with the smell and was waiting for my husband to get home (he's seen plumbers replace that seal before so I figured he'd know what to look for.) However, I'm worried because now the bathroom smells fine but the sewer gas smell is in the rest of the house. That doesn't make sense, surely if the smell was coming from the bathroom then I'd smell it in there, despite the candle burning. So, what else could this be? The toilet works fine and doesn't seem loose, and there's no leaks anywhere. We have no basement and I have no idea where the pipes are, even if I knew what I was looking for. Any thoughts? Or am I overthinking this?

Stacia

Reply to
Stacia
Loading thread data ...

You gotta play detective. Shut off all the rooms in the house and go to the mall or outside for 30 minutes at least and come in and snilff out the only rooms with the odor.

More than likely, it is sewer gas and is coming in thru the sewer 'vent' system in your house. You could have a ptrap not holding water or a stopped up vent on your roof where snow or an animal has caused a problem Or just unusual wind conditions.

Reply to
DK

Reply to
kv888831393ster

I'm in a town. There's no work in the area that I know of, we haven't seen or heard any machinery. Today I seemed to be able to trace the smell to the sinks next to the toilet. The toilet itself doesn't seem to be the problem. I've checked all the other drains (washer, a/c, kitchen) and there are no smells there, so I presume there's a blockage in the sinks. One sink is never used, but it doesn't smell as bad as the other sink we use all the time. And my husband can't smell it, of course. That figures!

Stacia

Reply to
Stacia

What kind of stoppers are in these sinks. Built in? If so, pull it out and take a look at it.

Reply to
Noozer

They are built-in and they won't come out! We tried like hell when we first moved in, because the stoppers have black spots on them that I assume is mold, and I can't reach the spots to clean them. We found hidden water damage, too, so the entire vanity and sink set will get replaced (hopefully in a few months). I suppose we could break them to get them out, if we had to, but I'd rather not. In the meantime I'm looking into some cleansers that will hopefully get rid of the smell.

Stacia

Reply to
Stacia

If they are like I think, when you go under the sink, there will be a rod coming from the drain, that goes through a hole in a piece of metal. If you get the rod out of that hole, and then lower the end of the rod as far as it goes, the stopper should just lift out.

Reply to
Noozer

This doesn't help your current problem but I'd remind you that mold is easily dealt with using common bleach.

Reply to
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

There was a rich guy who posted of a similar problem. He was in a large house with many rooms and his house smelled of sewer gas.

He found that the ptraps under the sinks in all the empty unused bath rooms were empty of water and it was letting sewer gas back up into his house. The solution was to go thru all the bathrooms once every week or two and run a cup or two of water down the drain.

Reply to
DK

Bleach hasn't made a dent in the stains. I don't know if it's not reaching the black stains or what, but we've sprayed bleach on it, used Soft Scrub, the whole nine yards. Seriously, this sink has got to go.

Awesome! Edgar Bergen fan?

Stacia

Reply to
Stacia

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.