Thread: smell in bathroom

Is the bathroom floor waste trap filled?

A coupe off things to try:

1. Straight after your shower, run the tap in the basin and bath for 10 seconds or so, just enough to fill up their P-traps. If you have a floor waste, put some water into it. Sometimes, especially on the 2+ story, a volume of water flowing down the drain can suck other P-traps dry if the vent is not correctly installed.

I don't think this is it, as it would stink all day, not just for five minutes.

2. Could it be a mould issue in the drain or the bedding sand, or does it smell like a sewer pipe? If mould, a good spray with diluted bleach into every nook and cranny in the drain and the shower enclosure, basically anywhere water could get to.

Not a nice issue to have though I'm sure. We don't use our bath very much, and if we forget to run a bit of water into it every several weeks, it will evaporate enough to fill out on-suite and bedroom with a sewer pipe smell on a hot day, which is unpleasant.

The fact that the smell goes after cleaning teeth indicates that the shower is syphoning the other line that connects the vanity and bath which indicates that there is no vent servicing that line. The vanity and bath should feed into a floor waste then branch to the main discharge line from the bathroom. Regulations state that a vent must be within 3.0m of a charged floor waste, if it is not then it is possible to syphon the floor waste. I assume there are 2 floor wastes, 1 in the shower and the other in the area bounded by bath & vanity. Have you checked that the waste outside of the shower is clear of debris from the re-tiling, no sand/cement/grout/broken tiles. Have the plumbers done a smoke test on the occasions they have returned to check it?

Originally Posted by Beardy

Is the bathroom floor waste trap filled?

Waste trap fills fine and retains sufficient water in the bend. So it's not that. Plus the grate seal I installed rules out the smell from the drain, as it is physically sealed.

- - - Updated - - -

Waste trap fills fine and retains sufficient water in the bend. So it's not that. Plus the grate seal I installed rules out the smell from the drain, as it is physically sealed.

- - - Updated - - -

Waste trap fills fine and retains sufficient water in the bend. So it's not that. Plus the grate seal I installed rules out the smell from the drain, as it is physically sealed.

That could be it. Tommorow, after the shower is off, I will run the vanity for a minute, (there is no bath) if that fixes it, then yes the shower is syphoning the vanity. Thanks. Ill give it a try
I did ask plumber to do smoke test and he said there is no such thing.

When you do that check the floor waste as well as the vanity for smell as the vanity would be connected ( charges) the bathroom floor waste

Originally Posted by man from uncle

That could be it. Tommorow, after the shower is off, I will run the vanity for a minute, (there is no bath) if that fixes it, then yes the shower is syphoning the vanity. Thanks. Ill give it a try
I did ask plumber to do smoke test and he said there is no such thing.

Time to find a new plumber, preferable old school who does know his trade

One waste is siphoning the seal out of one of the other traps, seen it heaps of times.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

One waste is siphoning the seal out of one of the other traps, seen it heaps of times.

I tested this theory, and I dont think it is that. The bathroom has shower, vanitybasin and toilet. Today I put plug in the vanity and put some water in the basin before shower. This would eliminate that theory that the shower was syphoning the basin/vanity. But still same smell.
The toilt retains the water in the bottom and I dont see any movement of water or sound in that area during or after shower

still perplexed!

More ideas welcomed

Originally Posted by rwbuild

Time to find a new plumber, preferable old school who does know his trade

maybe, the plumber was a young lad( not that young people can't be plumbers ofcourse) and the plumbing was inspected independly before signed off - so not sure exactly. I might ask the bathroom company to send a differentt plumber for an independent look from the plumber who did the work!

No offence to the builders and tradesmen on here, whom I'm sure do a good job. Your experience is fairly typical of my experience of builders and the building trades. There seems to be far too many of them who are incapable of performing good work, unless it's on their own place of course.

Things that I have seen builders/tradesmen do over the years:
- waterproofing bathroom/ensuite by a professional waterproofing company in a block of 16 townhouses in Leichhardt. Nothing wrong with the materials used, but not properly installed so that they all failed at the floor/wall junction within 12 years. Major damage in some units.
- failure to follow engineers design requirements re. underpinning and steel roof member support.
- plumber installed new toilet that leaked from the bottom of the cistern. Got him back, he couldn't fix it. He hadn't centered the flush mechanism in the cistern base.
- two cases of a builder not coming back to properly finish the job.
- builder installed a leadlight front door back to front. Identical door already installed within 20 feet the right way round. Asked me to accept it as it was.
- plumber quoted $1,500 to connect a new toilet. Did the job myself, one days work and less than $100 in parts. Didn't want the job or just a ripoff merchant?

When problems eventually come to light, often years down the track, the builder/ tradesman is nowhere to be seen.

Unfortunately 'quick and dirty' is the way things are done by far too many trades these days, unless it's their place of course. And, as we all know, anybody can paint.

Some vagaries here, you have a floor waste in the shower, we know that definitely, is there another floor waste in the room, yes or no

Originally Posted by rwbuild

Some vagaries here, you have a floor waste in the shower, we know that definitely, is there another floor waste in the room, yes or no

Hi. Thanks for your help.

No there is no other floor waste.

This is strip drain at the shower all cleaned and clear. The p-trap in the shower drain is working fine and retaining water in the trap. I have added the grate seal, which completely seals the shower drain anyway.(it is like a one way valve that lets water through and and then immediately seals.

There is a vanity and a toilet in the same room. (no bath) I looked under the house and all three outlets, (shower, toilet and vanity) are on seperate lines and do not connect to each other in anyway. The P-trap under the vanity seems to be working fine, it retains water and does not syphon away

any other ideas most appreciated

thanks

Does the vanity basin have an overflow outlet? Check that it’s connected correctly, see them not hooked up before.