cshenk wrote:

"adam russell" wrote

The gasses you describe which 'make you nauseous' are literally
quite dangerous in concentration.

Ok thanks. But just to be clear, it smells to me like chemical smell,
not sewer smell. I wouldnt have thought that it came from the
toilet. You still think yea?

Perhaps SteveB has better advice? He seems to work in this field and
mentioned the corroded bolts like I did, but is probably a much better
plunmer than I am!

My insurance agent insists that I point out that I'm not a plumber, just a
handyman. Plumbers need licenses, which I don't got. I'm allowed to do
minor repairs, like fix leaky toilets. I also clean out the occasional
plugged up drain. If you want complicated stuff done, I can give you some
names.

Sewer gas odors vary *a lot*.

Remembering back to the chemistry degree I never used:
-The major part of sewer gas is methane, which is odorless.
-Hydrogen sulfide is the rotton-egg smell (it's poisonous).
-Ammonia is in there, too, and you know how that smells.
-Methyl mercaptan is one of the major smell producers in human waste; it's
what the gas company adds so you notice a leak.

Then there's the devil's mix from people flushing cleaning chemicals and
stuff they aren't supposed to flush. They react with each other, producing
only heaven (and a sanitation engineer) knows what. The gas that comes out
of a faulty drain in your house could be from some other house miles
uphill.

I still think you should check the vent stack. Its purpose is to send all
those nasty gasses up to your roof so they can blow away. If it's blocked,
the gas comes out your drains. Run a garden hose down from the roof, or
call a drain cleaner.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX