I finally found a group that understands a sewer odor in the bathroom. I live in a 42 floor highrise on the 17th floor. We will be here a year soon and the odor started in Jan. when several pipes in the building burst and caused a lot of issues in the walls of the building. I started to notice the smell of urine. Sometimes light and at other hours stronger and now seems to hit late afternoon through the night. It drifts out to the other rooms. I've had the building maintenance crew out here and they tell me nothing is wrong, they checked the seal on the toilet, the shower and the sink drains etc. Same answer every time, we can't find anything wrong. We are at our wits end living with this odor. At times it smells like a public toilet. We lease in this building and it's very well kept but I'm frustrated that they don't seem to take this issue seriously. What can I do to solve this problem? HELP!

I have to have air filters in my home for health reasons. I have 3 Austin Air filters, and 2 Rabbit Air filters. Their are things you should look for. Look for CADR-( clean air delivery rate) that is how much filtered air the machine produces. Their is also an ACPH( air changes per hour) people with asthma and allergies need at least 4 acph. Also look for a TRUE HEPA not a Hepa type. 2 very different filter types, a Hepa type doesn't filter out the small particles that a true Hepa does. You want to look at filter replacement cost because ALL true Hepas require filter replacement. Their are no permanent true Hepa filters. Also look for ozone information. filters that produce ozone are harmful, and must be avoided. Some people care about how much electricity their machines run, since for the most part filters are run 24/7. And noise. Some people want ultra quite filters, that produce zero noise. Which isn't super realistic it is blowing air after all. You must think about where you will put it. My filters require X amount of space on each side to function properly. My Austin airs have 15 pounds of activated carbon in the filter to also absorb odors and some chemicals.The filters are a bit more expense then my other filters at $214, but last for 5 years. They are more basic-turn the knob to one of the three settings, and thats all. Basic, but very effective. To change the filter you turn the machine upside own, unscrew the bottom, and pull out the old filter and add a new one. The maintenance is vacuuming the sides of machine, and wiping it down it it's dirty. I also have Rabbit Air filters. These have much more settings. I bought the style that mounts on the wall, which would be excellent for children's rooms, so they are up and out of the way. It come with a remote too. The filters are replaced once a year for about $85. This doesn't have the 15 pounds of activated carbon, but does have a small amount of charcoal to help with odors. They have a decal on the front so they actually appear to be art work hanging on the wall, which is very nice. My rabbits in auto mode will automatically go into sleep mode when the lights in the room are dimmed or turned off. The filter is still running on the lowest setting and I almost can't hear it, and the lights turn off as well. The filter change is easy. Remove cover, and change filters. The maintenance is cleaning filter quality sensors, cleaning top vent, cleaning light on front panel, and wiping down if dirty or dusty, and vacuuming the prefilter once a month. It isn't too bad or too much of a time suck. Before buying I recommend reading an owner's manual online. It might open your eyes to thing you hadn't thought about. I also recommend getting a machine that filters a much larger room than your daughter's room, this ensures she is getting good clean air and a higher acph rating, which is very important for asthma and allergy sufferers. I did a lot of reading before I bought my machines, and I would say both are great, and I would buy them again without a second thought. That's all that I got at the top of my head, so I hope that helps. Good luck to you and your daughter, Harlow

In 2005, when we moved into this home, we had our contractor install a top of the line Broan fan/heater/light/nightlight. We replaced the heater twice and the light once. The advantage to the noisy Broan fans is that they sell parts! When something breaks, you can get that part and replace just that module. I figured I would go with them forever, but I kept burning out the heaters. When the light died after no abuse, though, I got perturbed. When I started planning for the remodel, I asked about the Panasonic fans at a couple of Kitchen and Bath stores. No one there had ever had a customer ask about ordering parts. "They don't break," I was told. So I looked for a fan with no heater (and decided to have a different secondary heating source, since I tended to run them too long), with a humidity sensor (since I could not remember to turn it on, having grown up in a house where we had no fans because the air leaks guaranteed no fogging!). I ended up with one by Panasonic that has the fan with both the humidity sensor and movement sensor. It is so quiet that the toilet seat drowns it out. If you stop and listen, you can barely hear it. It also has a regular room light and a night light. For heat, I went with a cove heater (electric radiant heat, up near the ceiling, that points down into the room and heats up objects in the room) that is made in the USA, thermostatically controlled, and a permanent installment. We now keep the bathroom door closed and enter into a toasty 76 degree room that feels really nice in this cold fall weather and will be wonderful come real winter! The reason I am so hard on heater units in vent fans is that I am now at home all day, so I do not have a regular shower time. I will turn on the heat to warm the room for a shower, then forget, or decide to do "one more thing" before going to shower. I never get there, and the heater would run for hours. Problem solved with my new cove heater and closed sliding door that I only have to open wide enough to slip though.

Ohhhh Vickie ... because I'm a sucker who was completely screwed over by my coop management..i complained about the dust and lack of permits..they swore the building has no asbestos (which i learned months is untrue) and that my neighbor didn't need permits. that also was a lie. i lived in hotels instead of complaining to the city. that is my biggest regret. when the work was over and I returned, the dust did not subside after deep cleanings so I finally called the city who issued violations for the unpermitted work...months after that, the loose dust tested positive for asbestos. No permit=no mandatory asbestos clearances for the work...Since it was not in the air, the EPA does not recognize it as a health hazard even though it still can be...the lawyer i spoke to said it would be a tough case since I never reported it during the work...Management blew the whole thing off and actually yelled at me for reporting it to the city.. ..i lost thousands in cleanings...hotel bills...i threw out most of my clothes and many belongings last year.. I'm not taking any chances with my health....I'm not sure why it reappeared..there may have been some lingering in the vent that could have malfunctioned....or during the storm the vent blew some leftover fibers around. . Im going to demand management atleast HEPA vacuum out the vent and duct. .im not sure if they will do it..they probably know I'm powerless to make them do anything now...i told the head of the board who told me to sue my neighbor but it was the coop's job to protect me more than the neighbor! Sorry for the novella..lol