Smell in bathroom, is my toilet flange broken?

[lilnazzx]

Picture of flange:

https://imgur.com/4CUYhEb

It's a 3" inside pipe flange

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Background: A couple months ago, our neighborhood's sewage got backed up and we had the city rooter come through to unclog it. Afterwards, we noticed that this bathroom stunk like sewage.

I've tried pulling up the toilet and replacing the wax seal like 5 times. I stack 2 wax rings every time because the flange is beneath the finished floor. It still stinks.

(Toilet doesn't seem to make contact with only 1 wax seal. I also can't use a wax seal w/ horn because of the way that the flange hole is shaped).

One time I pulled up the toilet and deep cleaned the bottom of the toilet and the entire bathroom floor. Used an enzymatic cleaner (nature's miracle) and then mopped with a Mr. Clean solution. It still stinks after that.

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There isn't any water leaking on the floor; so I suspect that the seal itself is fine and there's an issue with the flange. Maybe the flange is leaking sewer gases from the outside rather than from inside the hole.

This bathroom gets used a lot so I doubt the sewer gases are coming from the other pipes unless the soil vent is clogged.

Maybe smell is from toilet (Toto) directly, but I doubt it since toilet is fairly new.

 

[Reach4]

It is pretty common for a toilet to rock if you don't use shims. If it rocked, even a little, you should replace the wax.

Set the toilet down without wax, and position shims. Lift the toilet. Position the new wax. Drop the toilet onto the shims and wax.

Smell can come from the lavatory also. The trap could dry out, or you might have something growing in the overflow path. Maybe cover the lavatory with a cheap plastic dropcloth. Same with the toilet. Sniff after time to see which one has a smell under the plastic.

I can't tell if this is an inside 3" pipe or inside 4" pipe, but its either one of those.

Those should be very easy to distinguish. But in between those is a "spigot" type, where the tail is the same size as a pipe.

(Toilet doesn't seem to make contact with only 1 wax seal. I also can't use a wax seal w/ horn because of the way that the flange hole is shaped).

Something is odd about the shape of the flange hole? I don't see that in the photo.

 

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[Peterson]

This might sound strange, but do you think it could be a dead mouse in the wall? Just recently, a neighbor called me over to replace a seal on her toilet thinking it was broken because the bathroom stunk. Turns out there was some dead rodent that got in the wall behind the toilet. The smell was unholy....

 

[lilnazzx]

It is pretty common for a toilet to rock if you don't use shims. If it rocked, even a little, you should replace the wax.

Set the toilet down without wax, and position shims. Lift the toilet. Position the new wax. Drop the toilet onto the shims and wax.

Smell can come from the lavatory also. The trap could dry out, or you might have something growing in the overflow path. Maybe cover the lavatory with a cheap plastic dropcloth. Same with the toilet. Sniff after time to see which one has a smell under the plastic.


Those should be very easy to distinguish. But in between those is a "spigot" type, where the tail is the same size as a pipe.


Something is odd about the shape of the flange hole? I don't see that in the photo.

Oh yeah the toilet was rocking slightly before, but I placed shims down with the recent installation so there shouldn't have been any rocking that could mess up the seal.

I'm pretty sure the sink and tub were fine because I plugged them and filled them with water and it still stinks. Just a few minutes ago, I put some water + enzyme cleaner down the sink overflow but so far no change in smell.

Regarding the flange hole, it's too small to properly fit a horned wax seal, or any of those wax alternatives with some horn for that matter like better than wax. Anyways I am dumb because the picture literally says 3" inside on the flange

This might sound strange, but do you think it could be a dead mouse in the wall? Just recently, a neighbor called me over to replace a seal on her toilet thinking it was broken because the bathroom stunk. Turns out there was some dead rodent that got in the wall behind the toilet. The smell was unholy....

I've lived in a home with a dead rodent in the wall before so I'm familiar with that smell (along with rat poop/urine smell) and I don't think this is it.


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EDIT: I just wanted to ask, it's entirely possible that my flange that's inside the waste pipe isn't making a gas-tight seal anymore right? I assume this is one of those twist in flanges that probably isn't making a clean connection to the waste pipe anymore after that night that we had a sewage blockage

 

[Eman85]

Pic makes it hard to tell, almost looks like a plastic insert from a wax ring is in the pipe.

 

[Reach4]

Pic makes it hard to tell, almost looks like a plastic insert from a wax ring is in the pipe.

Entirely possible. Can you pull it up? Pry with a paring knife? Snag the bottom with a hook fashioned from a stiff wire?