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Mystery Sewer Smell - Only when it's hot, no leaks!

5 years ago

Last summer, we had the master bathroom in our 50 year old home remodeled and were not very pleased with the contractors. After all was said and done, I kept smelling a very light but foul odor in the bathroom, but I chalked it up to me being 7 months pregnant and having a super sensitive nose. Then in October, when we had some wonderful 90 degree Fall days in Texas (sarcasm), the smell got really really bad. It turns out, the smell only got really bad that Fall when the temps were over 90 degrees.

Long story short, we had the wax ring on the new toilet replaced twice by a plumber AND our crappy contractors, but that did not fix the smell. We then paid to have a smoke test by American Leak Detection, but not a single leak was detected. We also had an AC condensate line added in the attic, and then the weather got cold and the smell went away altogether, so I assumed the condensate line fixed the issue.

Today, the smell is coming back, and surprise! The high is supposed to be 92 degrees. I am out of ideas and out of money after the $15,000 bathroom remodel and then another $1,000 for all of the tests and checks and replacements (plus a new baby!).

WHAT could this be?? Who can I call? The traps are not dry in the sinks, shower, or toilet, and even if the contractor screwed something up, woudnt the smoke test have shown that mess-up (cracked vent pipe, no drain trap installed, broken toilet flange, etc)? And it only happens when it's over 90 degrees outside.

I have a 7 month old that spends too much time close to that side of the house, plus this is just gross and I do not want to spend the entire summer sleeping in the guest room and unable (once again) to use our new master bathroom. I am desperate!! Any advice?? Help!

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Comment (1)

Olychick
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Did anyone inspect the vent pipes to make sure they were installed correctly? Try also posting this on the Plumbing forum.

I found this on another web discussion site:

"It may be that you have a leak in the sewer stack, and that the
expansion with the hot weather is whats causing it. Cold weather
contracts various things and may seal it up again. I too am the type that I can smell things in parts per billion (reason
why a lot of times, the Superintendent would ask me how the plant was
doing, because I was the first to be able to detect things at the Waste
Water Plant).

Another possibility is that something is in your attic and its coming
down through cracks in the ceiling or through the walls, in your
bathroom, (dead squirrels or some critter).

Now, make sure, to check your TRAPS in the shower or bath. its
possible, that you have a plugged up soil stack, (though the plumber
should have found this, if he checked the roof), and that when the
temperature gets warm, or something happens outside, it sucks down the
water from the traps in your bathrooms, (like when you use your sink in
the kitchen and it creates a vacuum and draws down the water from the
traps if the pipes aren't big enough...)"
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This would be unlikely, but maybe there's a break in the drain line somewhere. I am now working on an old house in which a portion of the stack had to be replaced due to a crack in a hub (sanitary tee) that was dripping in the wall. Big mess. Probably not your issue, though. But first I would tent everything, separately, with plastic. Let it sit for a while, then slowly remove each and put your nose under to see if you can locate the smell underneath. For example, cover the shower drain. Cover the entire toilet. Cover the sink, etc. I once did this for a bathroom and discovered the stinky smell emanating from the tile & grout itself (I had draped the tile wall with painter's plastic, too.) The smell was due to wet greenboard behind the tile. No kidding.. And it did stink like the sewer. Another time I did this and it turned out to be the sink drain. After pulling out the pop-up drain, we found it covered in black goop from toothpaste spit, hair, etc. Really gross. After cleaning it up, all was well. Yes, that can smell like sewer smell too, if it's been there a while. Good luck. BTW, see if you get the smell when you turn on the sink faucet. If there's gunk in the drain (like just above the trap), the smell will come out of the sink overflow and hit you right in the face. We have this occasionally, and I pour a little splash of bleach down the drain and let it sit. This post was edited by homebound on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 7:15
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I'm having the same issue except I live in an apartment building with central air. Depending on what, where, how, when, why --- your apartment could be surrounded by other apartments, with other people and their living habits. Typically an apartment is separated by a sheet rock wall... there could be small cracks or gaps at the base of those walls, thru flooring possibly and or other possibilities. (They are often built *cheap* for the lack of a better more beautiful word that someone won't be offended by... *usually the builder or the apt. owner*) I say this because we might draw a builder into this conversation. LOL. (fine dining, fine accommodations, contractual obligations don't spell anything good for apartment owners.) When AC / Heat turns on in your apt. as well as other apts near yours the rooms of such are blown up like balloons and in some cases sucked into a vacuum drawing air anywhere from whence it can get it. If one apt is blowing and another apt is sucking? GIGO. Garbage In / Garbage Out... the net result is more or less smells collide among other things like odd noises. This is yet another reason why apartment living isn't for everyone. Not to knock you, but to give you context as to WHY?
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