On Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 4:36:45 PM UTC-5, dpb wrote:
On 11/24/2018 2:44 PM, Andy wrote:
I just moved into a house we recently purchased. In the remodeled
basement is
the laundry area. The original washing machine drain, which is in concrete
block wall, has been eliminated and another drainage system installed on
the
outside of wall with its own vent. It isnt tied into the septic. The
original one is. A couple of says after moving in, we started getting the
smell of septic gas. I narrowed it down to the laundry area. I located the
original drain line and thought it was probably covered over and not
sealed. I
was right. They had cover the whole area around the top of the pipe with
insulating foam. I removed the foam and there was no seal on the pipe. I
used
an expansion plug and sealed it. It seemed to stop the odor in that
area. Next
day, I had been away from the house for a while and when I walked in I
could
smell the odor in the house. Im thinking there is a problem below the top
of the pipe which caused the previous owners to stop using it. They said
they
had the system smoke tested and didnt find a problem. Now, my question.
Would it harm anything to force a ball Id foul down the pipe to about
floor
level and fill the pipe with concrete?Â* I think the crack or break in
the pipe
is allowing gases to deep into the walls way below where I could cap it..

This should have been disclosed by the previous owners; you may have
recourse.

Nowhere that has Code will allow that drain to not be terminated in a
sewer system -- was there not inspection/occupancy requirement?

More than likely what the problem is is that drain is connected to the
drain field and with disuse the water in the trap has evaporated so
that's the escape path. This is easy-enough to check; simply run some
water down the drain and see if that makes the symptoms go away.

--


It sounds like they installed a separate dry well for the laundry machine.
So, another problem could be that it doesn't have a trap and/or isn't properly
vented, and that's where some or all of the smell is coming from.
The idea of putting some water into the old drain is a good one. He could
also check if it has a trap and if the new dry well system has a trap
and vent. I'm betting it doesn't. What the consequences of pouring
cement into the old drain, who knows? We can't see what's there, what
it feeds into, where the concrete will wind up, etc. Did he have a home
inspection prior to buying? Those inspectors vary widely in competence
and even a good one can't see everything, but this sounds like an obvious
red flag that would be found.

The way I look at paying for a home inspector is that for any house that
isn't brand new, he'll likely find a few things that you can use to get
the seller to knock off a few hundred to make up for what you paid for
the inspection. And if they find even one thing, like this, it could
be a major thing. This kind of thing if it's DIY, maybe it can be fixed
for a hundred bucks in supplies. If you have to call a plumber, it could
be thousands. If you;re in the latter category, even more reason to have
a home inspection before buying.