Sweet smell in downstairs bathroom?

[HomeDecoy]

In my house, the downstairs bathroom has recently been repainted and now that it's being used, we've noticed that is has a sweet smell in there, almost like cataloupes. There is no window in the bathroom, it's got a sink and a toilet and I can not see any mold or water damage that would indicate it was a water caused smell. I did notice the smell while painting but thought it was due to the old nasty wallpaper. (I peeled it off, put textured drywall compound up and painted with bathroom paint) This bathroom is right beside the laundry room but the laundry room doesn't smell at all.

Does anyone know what would cause this, if it's something I should worry about and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Speedy Jim]

My experience: That "sweet" odor is sewer gas. The toilet seal (aka "wax ring") can leak gases even though there is no evidence of water leakage.

The odor may come and go with use and may even depend upon prevailing wind conditions.

Jim

[HomeDecoy]

Ahh so all we need to do is reseal it, which we were going to be doing due to installing new flooring. If we don't do fix it within the next week, are there any ill-effects we should be aware of or cause us to move the plans forward quicker? Usually I close the door and leave it alone, though it does get used maybe once a week or so. (I'm one of those people that worry things will explode for no reason so I thought I'd make sure!)

[Speedy Jim]

I don't see any ill-effects. Crack a window open if you'll feel better.

[EXT]

Who uses the bathroom. A sweet smell can be ketones (sp?) in urine of someone who is loosing protein such as with diabetes or weight loss.

[Norminn]

Latex or oil? If it is the paint, it could take a couple of weeks for the paint to completely cure. Odor from paint might linger longer if the room is kept closed or not much air circ. Not sewer gas, right? Didn't leave an air freshener in a drawer, right?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Or...

- Leaking bottle of cough syrup or bubble bath hidden in the back of a cabinet since 1979

- Package of those dumb little scented soaps that people give as gifts when they really didn't want to give a gift

[Goedjn]

I'd bet on the paint, though. Modern paints have some really unexpected smells, and the sherman-williams stuff that I've been using on furniture recently does smell kind of fruity.

[HomeDecoy]

There are no scented items because I think those things stink (even the candle is unscented) in the bathroom, other than the (barely scented) liquid hand soap that was recently put in there. There is no window to crack open sadly.

The painting was done over 3 months ago and is done in half the Smart3 Home Depot latex paint, the other being some sort of Natural Whites(something like that) white latex paint. I've used those paints elsewhere in the house and haven't had that smell surface anywhere else, so didn't think that would be it. I might just give the walls a sniff to make sure it's not the paint though.

I'm thinking It is likely it is the toilet seal as suggested, as the toilet is older and the previous owner had been instructed to reseal all the toilets in the house before we moved in and likely didn't do that one. We planned to be redoing the floor and having to reseal the toilet again shortly anyway and it doesn't appear that the house will blow up in the meantime (haha)

Thanks to all who replied