More plumbing advice please - terrible pong!!

Some of you may remember I posted a while ago in despair because the downstairs loo wasn''t flushing properly. Not a disaster, but the water in the bowl would rise dangerously high and then go down very, very slowly. I tried everything everyone on here and indeed on the whole internet suggested. In the end a friend sent round a handy man who was doing jobs for her and he sorted it eventually.

Please bear with me as I don''t really know what I am talking about but:

The loo backs onto a cupboard which contains a boiler. So the soil pipe (I think it''s called) appears in this cupboard, and then goes out through the wall into the garden. (The loo used to be located in what is now the cupboard.) So, in the cupboard, when the pipe goes down, there is a bit of pipe sticking up a few inches, and this is sealed. When I was trying to fix the loo myself I attempted to open this lid but failed.

The handy man, having tried to fix the loo from the loo end with a thin flexible rod, then managed to get the lid off this pipe (is it called a stack? It looks as though it might be). And he managed to do so. And then he managed from there to fix the blockage, not sure how.

So now the loo flushes. Lovely.

BUT

We have a horrible smell in the house! It is a slightly sweet, sewerish smell, not of poo but of algae or something. And it smells a lot in the loo, and even more in the cupboard with the boiler. And throughout the house especially when you enter. (Nice)

Can anyone advise me what to do? It is making me quite nauseous. Not to mention it will not help with selling the property!

I have so far only really chucked bleach down the loo, but it has made no difference. I have soda crystals. But the problem is not a blockage, just a pong.

Funnily enough we often have a similar smell in the bathroom upstairs but only in the summer. Never got to the bottom of that either.

Yesterday I had an absolutely AWFUL day in every way, and I am too traumatised really to write about it (don''t worry, no one died). So I have decided today to tackle this problem on wiki instead, and am hoping someone can do something to get rid of this awful whiff.

Thank you!!

Hi Eliza,

It sounds like stagnant water to me. This stack pipe, was it resealed really well? It will still be connected to the main drain so smells can come from there and it only takes the slightest of gaps.

If u bends or traps are not full of water then smells can come up through showers, sinks, baths too. Make sure they all have some water run through them to create an air lock. This used to happen in a bathroom of ours that we hardly ever used and the smell was overpowering.

Other than that, I can''t think of anything. You need a friendly plumber (i.e. one that will check out all your drainage in exchange for a beer!)

wli

no suggestions but just want to send a HUG. House "maintenance" issues are my biggest fear, the thing I am least able to deal with myself. More HUGS.

No suggestions just get a dog and blame it on them! Our dog gets blamed for everything

I think when this lid has been removed
it is no longer sealing properly, is the soil pipe in plastic or cast iron, is the lid on top of the pipe or on the side of the pipe, with out being there the easiest way to stop the smell from the drains would be to remove the lid and put a bead of silicone sealant on the lid and the opening where it sits, then put the lid back in, this should stop the smell.
Hope this helps

Thanks everyone. Good advice Andy - the lid was removed and what you say makes sense. I will take a look (holding my nose) tomorrow.

Yes my stbx for all his faults was pretty handy around the house. Now he has no interest in it other than as a means (when sold) of paying his debts. There are cracks and water marks appearing everywhere, doors are warping, electrics are going, the whole edifice is crumbling around us, and just when I am at my most frail and have no money at all to pay anyone to help.

Still as they say, what doesn''t kill you makes you stronger and if we survive this we will be stronger and wiser and more independent. And better at asking for help when necessary and giving it when asked. So that''s something.... (Always on the lookout for silver linings!).

I recall a leaky outlet pipe at work which was concealed behind a wooden panel. The smell that emanated from the area when the panel was removed made your eyes water! Once the repair had been made, the smell hung around for several weeks.

In your case it could be that some effluent may have spilled onto a floorboard which would cling to the area like an ermine cloak.

Get some watered down zoflora and scrub the area and see if that works. It would be worth opening the cupboard and windows peridically to see off the unwelcome scent for good.

Charles