My house stinks!!! Pigletjohn?

[tickleyourpickle]

i live in a bungalow, and we have been having a problem for months with a terrible smell that come and goes. It's like a drainage smell and always comes from the bathroom (which is obviously on the ground floor and at the front of the bungalow) but the smell fills the entire bungalow.

Last night it was at its worse, I had been at work all day so our water hadn't been used all day so I dont think it's a problem with our house, I've lifted the floor boards and smelt underneath the house and it doesn't smell, it didn't rain yesterday either. I've had the water company out to problem before but they've said its nothing to do with them, I've had plumbers out and they've said they can't locate the problem.

I'm at my wits end, it smells so bad it gives me a headache. Any ideas?

I had similar a few years back. Had plumbers out, had the drains rodded. Nowt.

Eventually found out that my dishwasher was leaking manky water under the kitchen units- the floor tiles go just under the plinth then stop so there was a handy area for this water to pool

No dishwasher, and didn't have my washing machine on, it's mainly in the bathroom.
DH has had the bath panel off and nothing leaking there.
We had a leak from a stop tap a few months back (the smell problem started way before then so probably not related) but a plumber went under the house where our pipes are and he didn't notice anything leaking?

We had a similar problem where I work and it turned out to be a problem with the angle of drainage pipes put in by the contractors.

IIRC the smell was caused by water sitting in pipes when it should have been draining away. As well as the water sitting there any general debris, body fats, soap scum etc in the water was also building up contributing to the stagnant smell.

Could it be something like that? Or did the plumbers look at that?

We had a phantom stench once too. It turned out to be from a shower that we weren't using because it hadn't been tiled yet. The water in the u-bend had evaporated and the sewer stink that would normally be blocked by the water was coming up. We just poured some water down every week or so and it was fine.

My sister had a similar problem more recently and it was the same thing.

I don't think that's something that has been looked at Norbert, but it would make sense actually
I think I need to have a search for a really good plumber!

Yy, a dry U bend somewhere was the first thing that came to mind. Is the smell less at any time(s)?

Lettuce, I don't think we have a dry U bend, all our UBends are used
The smell comes in the evenings, but not everyday

We had a shower leak behind the tiles that we didn't notice until water came through the ceiling downstairs. We'd noticed a smell that we couldn't locate for some time before that though.

wooden floor or concrete floor?

Is there an extension?

Can you see the top of the soil pipe, either on the outside of the house or coming through the roof?

is there a plumbing duct in the corner?

Wooden floors, no extension

There is something sticking out of the roof which I guess is the soil pipe

What's a plumbing duct?

This might help, here's a picture of the pipes on the front of my bungalow, to the left hand side are the pipes from the bathroom and the right hand side are the pipes from the kitchen

Since we got a condensing boiler in 4 years ago we get a strange cabbagey trampy smell when we start using the heating every autumn / winter - sometimes goes on all season - fairly unpredictable.
Plumber said it was due to composition of condensate.

none of the pipes in the pic are big enough to be the soil pipe, which is 4 inches diameter, and it would not be usual for them to stink much as they will mostly be full of soapy water, not sewage. I observe however that the concrete around them is cracked, which is common when a leak causes subsidence of the ground around a drain.

Are the pipes shown metal or plastic?

Do they go into a brown glazed earthenware gully?

If the soil pipe comes out of the roof, it is worth getting someone to climb up and sniff it, or hose water down it to make sure it flows away cleanly.

Has anyone looked down your manhole covers and observed if water flows well when the bath plug is pulled or WC flushed?

If your soil pipe comes out of the roof, it probably runs vertically through the house, and will be boxed into a vertical duct usually in the corner of the bathroom or kitchen. It may be instructive to open this duct at the lowest point and sniff. You can probably also sniff it in the loft, where it will be open.

Sniff all the plugholes. If a shower or extra basin was fitted after the house was built, sniff it frequently. The fault is probably either where an old part has cracked or broken, probably at or below ground level; or where later alterations have been clumsily fitted with insufficient fall or causing syphonage.

p.s.

It is very curious that there seems to be a near-horizontal waste pipe from the kitchen waste to the bathroom waste; yet the photo suggests they each have a gully. Has the kitchen one become faulty?

we had a mystery smell for weeks over the summer. seemed to be radiating from the fridge in the corner of the living room (tiny kitchen) couldn't work out what the hell it was. cleaned the carpet twice, pulled the fridge out to inspect behind it several times. could see no possible source of such a rank smell. at my wits end one morning I pulled it out again with the a view to pull up the carpet under and inspect there. happened to turn my head towards the base of the fridge whilst on my hands and knees and got hit in the face with full blown dead something smell! pulled out a tray at the bottom of the fridge (swear I had never noticed it before in the 5 years of owning said fridge) and it was lined with orange and black mould! gave it a good scrub (after I had puked) replaced it. job done. no more smell.

The horizontal waste pipe from the kitchen to the bathroom is something a plumber did to try and fix the problem, originally it went into the gully outside the kitchen and they moved it to the bathroom waste for some reason?

suggests to me that the kitchen gully is broken and leaking, or possibly choked with soil due to a crack.

If you can't find anything, I'd start by looking down the manholes while pulling plugs, flushing WCs and tipping buckets of water down gullies, and move on to a CCTV survey to look at the underground pipes.

If, as I suspect, you have glazed clay gullies, there are very likely fractures and cracks in the ground. They usually break at the bend in the gully trap, and at the first bend where the vertical pipe turns horizontal.

The first leak softens the ground causing it to sink, which then breaks more pipes and causes the ground above to sink or to leave a hollow under concrete. The ground will be damp and you will find red worms in it, and sometimes in the drains.

if you are very lucky, there might just be a blockage that can be rodded out.

Ask around for a recommended local plumber who has been in business for some years. Not all will have CCTV, but they will know someone who has.

I guess you've put sinkhole unblocker down plugholes and something like bleach down toilet and plugholes as smells can some from things lingering in pipes?

Lifting manholes cover is easy and something you and a friend or your OH can do this weekend, and monitor water movement. What way, this element is hopefully eliminated.

Does the smell seem stronger in any part of the bathroom? Can you smell it along the other side of internal walls or outside? Look along the bathroom walls on the inside and outside, are there any signs of damp internally or perhaps excess moss on one part outside which could be a sign of damp. If not, is it possible to get the flooring up and lift the floorboards near where there could be pipes to check for areas of dampness?