Last year I hired a contractor to finish my basement. I wanted to have a bar sink installed so the plumbers installed a drain pipe along a wall, jack hammered up the basement floor and connected the drain pipe to the main sewer drain. The main sewer line is located below the basement floor. I enclosed this section of the basement to hide the lid to gain access to the main sewer line, the main water lines that enter the house, the drain pipe for the bar sink. An odor is very strong in this closet area. This odor usually occurs after it has rained. The smell is not strong around the lid or pipes. The air in the closet is just a gassy smell. Any ideas?
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Since nobody else has responded, I'll throw out a couple of thoughts:
1) the access to the main sewer line - is it airtight? Can you try to seal it better, (maybe with plastic...?)
2) the drain pipe for the bar sink - does it have a properly curved trap? That is to say, can air from the sewer get up to the sink, or is there a pocket of water in the trap that will prevent it?
1) the access to the main sewer line - is it airtight? Can you try to seal it better, (maybe with plastic...?)
2) the drain pipe for the bar sink - does it have a properly curved trap? That is to say, can air from the sewer get up to the sink, or is there a pocket of water in the trap that will prevent it?
From the limited information you provided it sounds as though the plumbers made the right connections, but you have yet to install the sink. If that drain pipe is open, you are probably getting the sewer smell right up the pipe. If the sink was installed, you could simply poor water into the drain to create a seal. If I am correct and the drain is open, cap it with a PVC cap until you decide to hook up a drain.
