Funny smell in master bath of new house

teach2007

16 years ago

I posted this on the plumbing forum but thought I could get a faster response here...We have lived in our new home for 8 months and have had no major problems. However, there is a funny smell in the master bath that comes and goes. After cleaning the toilet, shower, and tub, the smell still permeates. It is a strange sweet/funky smell.. hard to describe... very unusual. Could it be the septic tank backing up? I would think that would be an unbelievably RANK smell, though. Maybe the drains aren't venting properly? Any thoughts or suggestions? Our plumbers were not the brightest bunch so I hope there wasn't some major mistake made.

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Comments (3)

meldy_nva
16 years ago
Yep, septic tank backups smell.. worse than funky.

Can you do something that causes the smell? Or maybe I'm asking: does it appear at a particular time of day? After a shower or bath? When the room temp is warmer than usual or cooler than usual? Is the smell only in that one room? If so, is it stronger near the ceiling or floor or by a cabinet or which wall --- and you'll have to take breaks while sniffing 'cuz our noses get vague in about 30 seconds. If you can narrow down the location, does the room on the other side of the wall have the same smell in the same area, even if less. Does it seem stronger or weaker after the a/c or heat runs?

Sweet-funky... like over-ripe fruit? Is there a chemical after-taste? Does it make your eyes water or your nose runny?

Okay -- way off the wall guesses without any supporting knowledge: Something dropped into the vent (shouldn't if the vent is properly capped). Play-dough stuffed somewhere like under a shelf [it usually smells when hot]. A finish on the grout or tile which off-gasses when hot or warm-&-wet [will also smell if the room is closed up overnight]. Off-gassing from wallpaper paste [ditto]. A new carpet - my last one did indeed have a peculiar sweetish smell when first laid down; if so, wash and put Â¾ cup vinegar in the rinse. Rotting fruit [banana? papaya?] left inside the wall, or in/near an air duct. Look underneath all drawers and shelves... for gum or ? Could somebody be using a hairspray, deodorant, powder, shampoo, or soap which has a similar smell [sniff packages and wrappers]? Fabric softener on the towels? New plastic anything?
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otmsheffield
16 years ago
Meldy nva covered just about all possibilities. The "sweet" part of your description baffles me. If it was just "funky" I'd suggest the possibility of a puncture in a vent pipe. We've had that happen several times. The electrician would put a screw right through the vent pipe when installing a light fixture, and the source of the odor was hard to track (at least until we'd been through that a couple of times.) We've also found all sorts of debris inside HVAC supply vents - ugh! Hope you solve the mystery soon.
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lsst
16 years ago
Could it be a bad wax seal with the toilets?
We have tile and the plumber did not use a raised flange. We had a funny smell in our bathrooms and it turned out that the wax rings were not thick enough to seal the gap between the toilet and flange.
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Funny smell in master bath of new house

Comments (3)

meldy_nva

otmsheffield

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