Our newly built home has had a septic odor specifically in the bathroom closest to the septic tank ever since we moved in. The septic tank is approximately 20 feet away. We reported this to our builder who had us remove the covers on the roof vents to no avail. Then they sent someone out (twice) to caulk around the toilet(makes no sense to me, the smell is from inside the bowl) and of course this did not work. I have added Rid-X and this works somewhat for a few days then the smell is back. Could this be due to a faulty septic installation? Please help, I don't know where else to turn.

Our house is less than 2 years old, but we are having septic tank odor coming from the sink drain in our bathroom that is closest to the septic tank. We recently have had a lot of rain and wonder if that is the reason. It is smelling up the whole house. Can someone please give us some advice?

Septic odor through the drain, is not possible with a properly designed and vented drain waste system. This explains your contractor's approach to caulk the space around the toilet. Odors are prevented from entering the house by water filled traps, P-traps, S-traps etc. If septic odor is being observed, it is comming from a failed vent system that allows the trap to empty, or a breach in the vent piping or drain piping, perhaps even in the wall. A septic tank must be properly vented. A plumber or septic tank company can inspect your system to verify proper installation and venting.

People can also confuse sulfur odors contained most often in well-water with septic odor. If you use a groundwater source, the water is poorly aerated and may contain sulfur that causes an odor problem. Do you use a well? Have any neighbors complained of similar odors? You may need to look into water treatment approaches to eliminate iron and sulfur from groundwater.

Before you hire a plumber, read this.

It seems "call a professional and pay them to fix it" is the general "knee jerk" approach in many of these online help forums. How unfortunate. Many of these problems can often be diagnosed and fixed using common sense. See below.


http://www.inspect-ny.com/septic/septgas.htm

Missing plumbing vents

Plumbing vents terminating indoors (such as in the attic)

Blocked plumbing vents on the roof such as a vent blocked by an insect nest, birds nest, or even a dead animal

(a dead animal anywhere in a building might be mistaken for a sewer gas smell as the animal decays)

In freezing climates, check that a plumbing vent is not being blocked by frost or by snow-cover.

Plumbing vent distances to fixtures: Plumbing codes require that plumbing vent lines be installed sufficiently close to plumbing fixtures to vent those drains (typically 5' or less)

Look below the sinks for antiquated or un-vented drains - if you see an "S" trap rather than a modern "P" shaped plumbing drain trap, the fixture is almost certainly not properly vented.

Check your toilets for leaks at the toilet base. The wax ring used to seal the toilet base to the waste pipe at the floor may be deteriorated or leaky, especially if the toilet is loose or was previously loose