sewer smell in house

[MasterPlumbersKeymaster]

There is a definate sewer oder in the master bedroom bathroom of my house. The bathroom has a shower and toilet. What should I do to correct this? What are possible causes?

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

Flush the toilet several times and listen for a gurgling sound THIS means partial stoppage OR blocked vent.
If no sounds GREAT then continue with the following advice

What also causes this type of smell is TRAP SEAL LOSS which in most cases like a shower is caused by capillary attraction.

Try to picture an old cigarette lighter with a WICK that draws up the lighter fluid, the same with HAIR hanging over the crown weir (dip) of the trap.

The hair hanging over this trap is siphoning the water out and thus causing a trap seal loss and thus a smell of sewer gases.

Remedy have a plumber snake out the line and WATCH HIM and see how much hair is removed. Have the plumber snake this line SEVERAL times until the snake comes back clear ASK to see either a license or Journeyman’s card NEVER ever let an unlicensed tradesman in your home to dabble in this type of work.

Please keep me posted as I love hearing how the job turns out
[Edited by Moderator on 19 March 2001]

[RussParticipant]

One more likley cause could be toilet seal, have seen many toilets give off odor at base, but not leak water. Worth checking this out by placing tissue around bowl and flushing,paper movement indicates leak.

[CristinaParticipant]

I had that same problem in my bathroom in the basement except the smell was coming from the tub. It turned out that whoever installed the tub did not use an elbow pipe they used a straight pipe which could not hold a “water plug” and the sewer odor was backing into the bathroom through the tub drain. I had it fixed and the smell is gone. Since we do not use the basement tub that often, I go down there once in a while and run the tub to keep the water plug in the elbow so it does not evaporate. This may not be your problem, but I hope it helps.

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