I have been told by plumbers this is not a plumbing issue, but I am not convinced!
Have noticed a strange odor around the entrance to my master bath, as I enter from my walk-in closet. I live in a condo that has neighbors on either side. My initial suspicion--because of the location and my Googling (disclaimer: I know NOTHING about home improvemnt or DIY or plumbing) was sewer gas.
Plumber #1: reset loose toilet on the same seal. Would not check anything else.
I went away for several days, came back and didn't notice smell til I started using the fixtures. Was particularly bad after 3 loads of laundry.
Plumber #2: came midday and smell was not present-despite my best efforts to make it happen. He put the otilet on a new seal, said basement floor trap was OK, and visually inspected other things. Our condo maintenance guys did a quick check of roof vents-said all mine smelled OK, but one of the neighhors' smelled similar to the odor in my bathroom/closet--and these are the neighbors on the side where I notice the smell in my condo. They were going to ask the neighbors to pour water in their traps.
Smell was back right away. I pushed, and ....
Plumber #2 came back with a colleague to do a smoke test. They walked in bathroom-smell was present, and said "this isnt sewer gas." They had different ideas...chemical smell, woody smell, etc. Smoke test did not reveal any leaks, and smoke came out of my other roof vents and out of the neighbors' as they would have expected.. Their (large) bill says that this is not a plumbing or vent issue.
Other details: The air with the smell drafts out around the pocket door that is between my bathroom and closet (which I never use). We know there is an unfinised area behind the closet that is a plumbing void. Also, the vent stack supposedly runs somewhere in the wall where this smell is located. There are times when the smell is a cooking smell--clearly drifting from neighbors.
This is driving me nuts! If I had DIY skills I would make some holes in closet drywall to inspect unfinished area and to visually look at vent stack. Someone mentioned putting insulation around the pocket door,but I am hesitant to do this without knowing what the smell is. Any suggestions?