weird odor in bathroom
First, what does the smell resemble? Sewer gas does not always smell like sewer gas. Check the traps under your basin and/or tub. If they are leaking they are allowing the odor through the traps; or they simply evacuated themselves. I've had situations where a trap leaked under a basin and the resulting mold under the cabinet smelled like methane. What I would do is clean the entire bathroom and wait a day. Then on my hands and knees, peform a "sniff test" around all suspect areas.
Good luck,
Len
P.S. It could be a mouse. Those little buggers can get into the darndest places. I've actually drilled holes in each stud bay before I found them.
[This message has been edited by Iceman (edited January 24, 2002).]
I had a flying squirrel get into a wall through the attic and die there.
I had a very slow drip under a pedestal sink that was rotting the floor where you couldn't see it. Didn't find it until the smell was noticeable.
Besides what has been mentioned,I've run into odor problems if water stands in ductwork,aluminum stud material,and other metal.Unfortunatly,this odor resembles a dead animal or rotting garbage.Let us know what the outcome is.
[This message has been edited by Matches (edited January 24, 2002).]
Bucky
After the e-mails, I'm out of ideas. But for Merlin, Have you ever wondered why, when you left the bathroom, the smell disapears?
Len
We too have a foul smell coming from upstairs master bathroom. What we did:
1). We did a thorough cleaning.
2). Discovered area around toilet was soft.
3). Pulled toilet...found water damage extending through both 1/4" and 3/4" subfloors fortunately ceiling was okay--Whew!!
4) We replaced subfloors and wax ring.
5) Still had smell so 3 different plumbers suggested several ideas.
6). Removal of toilet and recheck of flooring, replaced wax rings, poured bleach down sinks, shower, tub, sink overflow, A/C drain tube and the list goes on.
7) $1400 later we are no closer to solving smell problem. Today, we cut through ceiling from the downstairs directly under toilet and that has yeilded no leads either. Anyone want to venture a guess. We will take anything else at this point.
Exhausted,
Steve and Tawnya
Just wondering if anyone figured it out? What’s the cause/solution?
Clearly an animal, (I assume rat or mouse) climbed up my pipes, got stuck and died in my pipes in my bathroom. I still have no idea where! I’ve watched in the bathroom to see where those flies came from, but none surfaced. Only when I left the room!
Now, I know for a fact there is a dead animal but I do not know how to get it out! I am hoping it will rot away enough and wash away! However, being that it has already been 2 months, I doubt that will ever happen! I either have to leave it or find it and clean it out! Yuk!!!!
Anybody else have this issue??
Say there is a dead bird or animal in there how in the hell do I get them out?
Unless of course there is a crack in it but mine is made of cast iron
We’ve had the wax ring replaced, smell still there. We resorted to testing for mold, the found small amount on insulation behind vanity wall so was professionally remediate. Still the smell is there. All pipes have had cameras put down - nothing found. We are now resorting to a full gut to the studs, including ceiling. Every professional we’ve come into contact has asked for us to let them know what we find - if we find the source because they are stumped. This problem has been going on for 10 months and we are ready to have our bathroom back in service.
We’ve had the wax ring replaced, smell still there. We resorted to testing for mold, the found small amount on insulation behind vanity wall so was professionally remediate. Still the smell is there. All pipes have had cameras put down - nothing found. We are now resorting to a full gut to the studs, including ceiling. Every professional we’ve come into contact has asked for us to let them know what we find - if we find the source because they are stumped. This problem has been going on for 10 months and we are ready to have our bathroom back in service.
i am also wondering if anyone could help as in the same boat.
me and hubby have noticed today a smell in the bathroom the only way i can explain it is the smell of raw chicken. its late here now and just gone in there and the smell is even stronger ive smelt the sink toilet and bath etc dont seem to be coming from there.
any suggestions..please help
We’re guessing it is caused by a mole or salamander, but how do we repair/stop this?
Sometimes we 'think' that it is coming from one place and it is coming from another.
I will tape half the bathroom off with the plastic and see which side has the 'stank'. Tape off half of that, then half of that, then isolate the true source. The things that cause most of these that I have found are:
1- The wax ring under the toilet is not making contact with the toilet. Yes, people redo the floor and raise the toilet in doing so but do not make up for the wax ring height. It has to be a good seal. Duh. Yes, even in new homes I have found this. Builders these days. Sheesh.
2- The floor around the wax ring has gotten wet and moldy, no amount of wax ring will seal the floor around it.
3- HOME PLUMBING GONE WRONG. you need a P-trap in your sink and tub people, that's what keeps the sewer gas from coming back up the pipes.
3- The sewage system has a vent. Vent pipes come up through the walls. They break sometimes, and a piece of sheetrock can't hold that back for long.....
4- The stench is under the house/in the walls, and coming in from the pipe openings in the sheetrock for the plumbing.
5- Sometimes, the smell is just embedded in the sheetrock and paint from 'uncle joe' or 'my husband/wife/kids'. :)
House was built 1986
House has a septic tank
We moved into our rental at the end of March. Did the walk through prior to moving in and the smell wasn't there. Fast forward to moving day, the air wasn't working, it took a week for them to fix due to all of the COVID stuff going on. I then refused to use the bathroom as the toilet had a ton of mold in the tank and I slowly started to notice a weird smell in the bathroom. I then noticed that the caulk job the rental company did where the tub meets the floor slowly separated showing rust, deterioration and separation in some places where the tub meets the tile. Please note, my husband uses the bathroom to shower in. The rental company finally replaced the toilet last week. Which BTW, I was told black mold in your tank was normal, but I have never noticed that in any of my other homes. Problem is, the smell is still there. My first thought was there may be a leak under the tub causing all of that rust and deterioration. Submitted a work order, plumber came out today and said if there has been no water there, that isn't the issue. I then mentioned that the toilets were gurgling whenever the shower was ran and he checked the septic thing outside (sorry don't now the trade word) and that that may be causing the smell (which he said he couldn't smell, but is clearly there). So now they are having a Septic company come out. I just want to know your guys thoughts. If the smell was coming from the septic tank wouldn't I smell it in my other bathroom, because I don't? I really think there is a leak under the tub. What do you guys think? I included a picture of one of the areas of the tub issue.
1) House was built 1986
2) 1 story - Ranch
3) House has septic tank
We moved into our rental at the end of March. Did the walk through prior to moving in and the smell wasn't there. Fast forward to moving day, the air wasn't working, it took a week for them to fix due to all of the COVID stuff going on. I then refused to use the bathroom as the toilet had a ton of mold in the tank and I slowly started to notice a weird smell in the bathroom. I then noticed that the caulk job the rental company did where the tub meets the floor slowly separated showing rust, deterioration and separation in some places where the tub meets the tile. Please note, my husband uses the bathroom to shower in. The rental company finally replaced the toilet last week. Which BTW, I was told black mold in your tank was normal, but I have never noticed that in any of my other homes. Problem is, the smell is still there. My first thought was there may be a leak under the tub causing all of that rust and deterioration. Submitted a work order, plumber came out today and said if there has been no water there, that isn't the issue. I then mentioned that the toilets were gurgling whenever the shower was ran and he checked the septic thing outside (sorry don't now the trade word) and that that may be causing the smell (which he said he couldn't smell, but is clearly there). So now they are having a Septic company come out. I just want to know your guys thoughts. If the smell was coming from the septic tank wouldn't I smell it in my other bathroom, because I don't? I really think there is a leak under the tub. What do you guys think? I included a picture of one of the areas of the tub issue.
My husband and I built a custom home 2 years ago. 2 of our toilets, both Kohler (Persuade models), began to have that odd sweet smelling odor. It would come and go but was extremely noticeable on hot/humid days.
We had our plumber come out, remove the toilet and found that the flange was cracked and needed to be replaced. He suspected that it could have been from a bad batch or, since these toilets are very heavy, if it was moved around too much when they were installing it, this could have cracked the flange.
Anyhow...this totally resolved the problem!!
Hope this information helps!
Peggy