Bathroom Sewage Smell

Users who are viewing this thread

jwcollins6

New Member
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hi everyone,

I have a quick question I was hoping you could give me some advice on.

I recently (2 months ago) moved into a new construction condo and over the last month or so have, every so often, had had a horrible sewage smell coming from the master bath.

I've sniffed around and searched for the origin of the smell and from the best of my knowledge it is coming from the base of the toilet. It is hard to explain, but the toilet is backed against the wall and (as you'll see in the attached picture) there is a back area that I believe is unsealed and thus causing the problem.

The weird thing is though that we've found that if we run the shower the smell will most (not all but most) of the time go away.

I've had a the developer's plumber out two times and of course they have done nothing besides say I might just need to run water every time the smell comes (definitely not a solution) so I figured I'd put the question out here to see if you had any insight.

I've provided two pictures. The first is for reference to show where on the toilet the second picture is coming from. Thank you for any help!

John
 

Attachments

  • photo-7.JPG
    photo-7.JPG
    7.9 KB · Views: 287
  • photo.PNG
    photo.PNG
    70 KB · Views: 298

Smooky

In the Trades
Messages
2,299
Reaction score
152
Points
63
Location
North Carolina
You may need to take the toilet up and replace the wax ring. If that is done properly there will be no odor. Caulking around the base is not to prevent the odor but rather to prevent water on the floor from seeping up under the toilet.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnXezZt6OMk
 
Last edited:

Terry

The Plumbing Wizard
Staff member
Messages
29,946
Reaction score
3,460
Points
113
Location
Bothell, Washington
Website
terrylove.com
If the smell goes away when water is run in the shower, then it may be a dry p-trap there. When a shower isn't used, the water in the trap evaporates. There's not a whole lot a plumber can do about that easily. You can add a trap primer during construction if you know the shower won't be used for extended periods of time. But I'ven never seen anyone do that. We do that for floor drains a lot.
Another place that dries out is the big soaking tub in the Master that becomes a planter box.
 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,749
Reaction score
4,400
Points
113
Location
IL
It is possible that your toilet flushing could suck the water out of the shower P-trap if the plumbing is not designed well.

I would close she shower enclosure or curtain to better determine if the smell is from the toilet base or the shower drain.
 

WJcandee

Wise One
Messages
3,182
Reaction score
170
Points
63
Location
New York, NY
Either it's coming from a dry (or sucked-dry, i.e. siphoned) p-trap in the shower or you need a new wax ring under the toilet. Sniff the shower drain and you should be able to tell immediately if that's where it's coming from. In my rental apartment in the City I had the same thing, out of nowhere, one day. I did a bunch of sniffing and couldn't identify the source with certainty. I basically assumed it was exactly what Terry and the others said, either the tub or the toilet. When I started describing it to the assistant super, without even looking at it (and without listening to my whole explanation), he immediately said, "You need a new wax ring. We'll reset the toilet while you're out." And they did. And that solved it. (And, like Terry does, they put in a new water supply hose while they were there.)

That's what your condo association plumber should have done. The obvious thing first without even thinking about it, and if that isn't it, then check for more.

(The big difference is that yours is a new condo with a fancy-schmancy toilet, while my building is old. In mine the wax ring just wore out after many years. In yours, there is a possibility that the dimensions of the room in which it was installed weren't right on spec, and they had to kluge it to get the toilet in, and now the kluge is failing. All will be revealed when you pull up the toilet and look at how the floor flange is mounted. If it's normal, maybe the flange was flush with the floor rather than mounted on top of it and they didn't use a thick enough wax ring to fill the extra distance. I'm assuming that the condo doesn't let you do this stuff yourself, so get the guy back and tell him you want the toilet reset. And if you're there to watch, see whether that flange is mounted properly and whether it's the right (12" to centerline) distance from the finished wall (not the baseboard) or whether the toilet had to be kluged into place. I'm guessing that when the guy exercises the energy to pull up the toilet, he will know right away what's wrong, if he's any good.)

If your condo association doesn't pay for this stuff and you can use any plumber, and you're in the general vicinity of Chicago, our member SewerRatz [Ron Hasil, a licensed Illinois plumber with A-Archer Plumbing] is a guy you can trust to do the work right. (And not waste a visit without doing anything.) However, given that it's new construction, it sounds like it should be the developer/builder's responsibility, as a hidden defect, whether they use their guys or you send them a bill for yours.
 
Last edited:
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks