Earlier today I noticed the bathroom smelled really rank, and the
smell wouldn't go away. I assumed the seal under the toilet had broken
and was letting sewer gas into the bathroom, so I lit a candle to help
with the smell and was waiting for my husband to get home (he's seen
plumbers replace that seal before so I figured he'd know what to look
for.)
However, I'm worried because now the bathroom smells fine but the
sewer gas smell is in the rest of the house. That doesn't make sense,
surely if the smell was coming from the bathroom then I'd smell it in
there, despite the candle burning.
So, what else could this be? The toilet works fine and doesn't seem
loose, and there's no leaks anywhere. We have no basement and I have no
idea where the pipes are, even if I knew what I was looking for. Any
thoughts? Or am I overthinking this?

Stacia

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:24:55 +0000 (UTC), (Stacia)
wrote:

Earlier today I noticed the bathroom smelled really rank, and the
smell wouldn't go away. I assumed the seal under the toilet had broken
and was letting sewer gas into the bathroom, so I lit a candle to help
with the smell and was waiting for my husband to get home (he's seen
plumbers replace that seal before so I figured he'd know what to look
for.)
However, I'm worried because now the bathroom smells fine but the
sewer gas smell is in the rest of the house. That doesn't make sense,
surely if the smell was coming from the bathroom then I'd smell it in
there, despite the candle burning.
So, what else could this be? The toilet works fine and doesn't seem
loose, and there's no leaks anywhere. We have no basement and I have no
idea where the pipes are, even if I knew what I was looking for. Any
thoughts? Or am I overthinking this?

Stacia

You gotta play detective. Shut off all the rooms in the house and
go to the mall or outside for 30 minutes at least and come in and
snilff out the only rooms with the odor.

More than likely, it is sewer gas and is coming in thru the sewer
'vent' system in your house. You could have a ptrap not holding
water or a stopped up vent on your roof where snow or an animal has
caused a problem Or just unusual wind conditions.

Hi,
More info might help. Are you in a city, country? Is the city doing any
work in the area?
Richard

DK wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:24:55 +0000 (UTC), (Stacia)
wrote:

Earlier today I noticed the bathroom smelled really rank, and the
smell wouldn't go away. I assumed the seal under the toilet had broken
and was letting sewer gas into the bathroom, so I lit a candle to help
with the smell and was waiting for my husband to get home (he's seen
plumbers replace that seal before so I figured he'd know what to look
for.)
However, I'm worried because now the bathroom smells fine but the
sewer gas smell is in the rest of the house. That doesn't make sense,
surely if the smell was coming from the bathroom then I'd smell it in
there, despite the candle burning.
So, what else could this be? The toilet works fine and doesn't seem
loose, and there's no leaks anywhere. We have no basement and I have no
idea where the pipes are, even if I knew what I was looking for. Any
thoughts? Or am I overthinking this?

Stacia

You gotta play detective. Shut off all the rooms in the house and
go to the mall or outside for 30 minutes at least and come in and
snilff out the only rooms with the odor.

More than likely, it is sewer gas and is coming in thru the sewer
'vent' system in your house. You could have a ptrap not holding
water or a stopped up vent on your roof where snow or an animal has
caused a problem Or just unusual wind conditions.

writes:

More info might help. Are you in a city, country? Is the city doing any
work in the area?

I'm in a town. There's no work in the area that I know of, we haven't
seen or heard any machinery.
Today I seemed to be able to trace the smell to the sinks next to the
toilet. The toilet itself doesn't seem to be the problem. I've checked
all the other drains (washer, a/c, kitchen) and there are no smells
there, so I presume there's a blockage in the sinks. One sink is never
used, but it doesn't smell as bad as the other sink we use all the time.
And my husband can't smell it, of course. That figures!

Stacia

I'm in a town. There's no work in the area that I know of, we haven't
seen or heard any machinery.
Today I seemed to be able to trace the smell to the sinks next to the
toilet. The toilet itself doesn't seem to be the problem. I've checked
all the other drains (washer, a/c, kitchen) and there are no smells
there, so I presume there's a blockage in the sinks. One sink is never
used, but it doesn't smell as bad as the other sink we use all the time.
And my husband can't smell it, of course. That figures!

What kind of stoppers are in these sinks. Built in? If so, pull it out and
take a look at it.

"Noozer" writes:

What kind of stoppers are in these sinks. Built in? If so, pull it out and
take a look at it.

They are built-in and they won't come out! We tried like hell when we
first moved in, because the stoppers have black spots on them that I
assume is mold, and I can't reach the spots to clean them. We found
hidden water damage, too, so the entire vanity and sink set will get
replaced (hopefully in a few months). I suppose we could break them to
get them out, if we had to, but I'd rather not.
In the meantime I'm looking into some cleansers that will hopefully
get rid of the smell.

Stacia

"Stacia" wrote in message
...
"Noozer" writes:

What kind of stoppers are in these sinks. Built in? If so, pull it out and
take a look at it.

They are built-in and they won't come out! We tried like hell when we
first moved in, because the stoppers have black spots on them that I
assume is mold, and I can't reach the spots to clean them. We found
hidden water damage, too, so the entire vanity and sink set will get
replaced (hopefully in a few months). I suppose we could break them to
get them out, if we had to, but I'd rather not.
In the meantime I'm looking into some cleansers that will hopefully
get rid of the smell.

If they are like I think, when you go under the sink, there will be a rod
coming from the drain, that goes through a hole in a piece of metal. If you
get the rod out of that hole, and then lower the end of the rod as far as it
goes, the stopper should just lift out.

Stacia wrote:
"Noozer" writes:

What kind of stoppers are in these sinks. Built in? If so, pull it out and
take a look at it.

They are built-in and they won't come out! We tried like hell when we
first moved in, because the stoppers have black spots on them that I
assume is mold, and I can't reach the spots to clean them.


This doesn't help your current problem but I'd remind you that mold is easily
dealt with using common bleach.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:38:17 -0600, DK wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:24:55 +0000 (UTC), (Stacia)
wrote:

Earlier today I noticed the bathroom smelled really rank, and the
smell wouldn't go away. I assumed the seal under the toilet had broken
and was letting sewer gas into the bathroom, so I lit a candle to help
with the smell and was waiting for my husband to get home (he's seen
plumbers replace that seal before so I figured he'd know what to look
for.)
However, I'm worried because now the bathroom smells fine but the
sewer gas smell is in the rest of the house. That doesn't make sense,
surely if the smell was coming from the bathroom then I'd smell it in
there, despite the candle burning.
So, what else could this be? The toilet works fine and doesn't seem
loose, and there's no leaks anywhere. We have no basement and I have no
idea where the pipes are, even if I knew what I was looking for. Any
thoughts? Or am I overthinking this?

Stacia

You gotta play detective. Shut off all the rooms in the house and
go to the mall or outside for 30 minutes at least and come in and
snilff out the only rooms with the odor.

More than likely, it is sewer gas and is coming in thru the sewer
'vent' system in your house. You could have a ptrap not holding
water or a stopped up vent on your roof where snow or an animal has
caused a problem Or just unusual wind conditions.

There was a rich guy who posted of a similar problem. He was in a
large house with many rooms and his house smelled of sewer gas.

He found that the ptraps under the sinks in all the empty unused bath
rooms were empty of water and it was letting sewer gas back up into
his house. The solution was to go thru all the bathrooms once every
week or two and run a cup or two of water down the drain.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com writes:

This doesn't help your current problem but I'd remind you that mold is easily
dealt with using common bleach.

Bleach hasn't made a dent in the stains. I don't know if it's not
reaching the black stains or what, but we've sprayed bleach on it, used
Soft Scrub, the whole nine yards. Seriously, this sink has got to go.

Mortimer Schnerd, RN

Awesome! Edgar Bergen fan?

Stacia