House smells - help!!

[Mamabear12]

I have a good sense of smell and notice every little smell, which is annoying! Our house had smells before like rotten eggs and I had plumber come in and he sorted out the clogged manhole. That sorted out that problem. But two of our bathrooms get these weird smells from the drains. Doesn't always smell. It's just perhaps twice a day, but strong enough I have to shut bathroom door bc smells come out to hallway and start stinking house. I tried vinegar and baking soda to clean drain, bleach and still gets these smells. Water is run at least once a day in bathroom so can be p trap. The plumber doesn't notice. But bc when they visit the smell is not at it's worse. Hard to time it as it's at random when it gets these bad smells. Help! Our other two bathrooms do not smell at all. The smell smells like mould or mildew I think. But not sure. Anyone have this problem and got rid of it? Driving me nuts!

Is it in a downstairs bathroom? Could water be sitting under the floor and festering?

Sounds like a leak causing damp to me. Have you checked any deals are sound, removed bath panels and checked there is no obvious sign of a leak? Are there any loose tiles when you press them?

Sounds like you have a drain problem/ blockage. Water not clearing properly.

Wheresmyphone, I suspect this too. How do you sort the drain problem/blockage from shower or bathroom? Do I try draino?

wowfudge, yes, i suspect it could also be leak causing damp somewhere...bc the smell is damp. but no loose tilesand no signs of leak. Just a smell. But perhaps we need to remove the panels to check....just reluctant, as its all nice and tidy now and removing would mess it up i think.

Randomly, one of the bathrooms is a downstairs one, so it could be water sitting under the floor, but no loose tiles. However, i did notice in our kitchen some flooring appears to be loose now :(

re leaks: I think a plumber/ can do a proper test by running taps, checking the flow and work out if water is going awol to see if there is a leak. But am sure if you google like mad and go on those DIY message sites someone will be able to tell you how to do it yourself.

More modern showers have a removeable fitting in the plug/drainage hole that need regular washing out manually. Do you have one of those?

Mr Muscle is basically Soda Crystals which you can buy VERY cheaply at hardware or supermarkets. Might be worth a try.

Keep posting here too: I am seen spouses of plumbers and indeed a plumber post on here from time to time.

Good luck!

Yes, we have a removable fitting, so ill try washing it out manually to see if that helps :) but smell comes and goes, so it must be something in the pipes. I have had three different plumbers check and they think it smells like normal shower. However, when they come to check of course it does not smell at its worse! And the tricky part is it doesn't smell at specific time, so not like I can time it for when plumber comes. Its so strange bc both bathrooms randomly get this STRONG stench. Not like rotten eggs bc I know that is sewage smell. But its like damp smell or chemical or something off. I have no idea why it would come and go. SO FRUSTRATING. I grew up living in a brand new build house in the US, so I am not used to these types of problems in old houses. Grrr.

I've had much worse from a not-that-old US house - think raw sewage spread across the garden .,.

Have you talked to a Dynorod type company? People who specialise in drain clearing? I would NOT recommend Dynorod themselves: big national franchise that gets LOADS of bad press but if you go to your local council website and search under Trading Standards they have recommended traders. It may be worth having a chat with one of them. For the love of God, when you have sorted this out please come back on here in update us (me😳).....I am really intrigued !

We have a downstairs WC which had a smell when we moved in. After trying bleach I realised it needed something stronger so used Spirits of Salts in the toilet and the basin. I also did the kitchen sink and then the upstairs toilets, sinks, bath and shower. It fixed the problem. It has returned a couple of times when it is hot as the hot cylinder and pipes are in there so it does warm up, so I just do them all when there is a hint of a pong.

Sometimes if the pipes dry out you will get a smell, it might be worth ensuring that water is run often to keep them damp.

Thing is, water runs in the bathrooms at least once a day, so should not be a problem. I don't understand why the smells seem to come and go. My mother is coming this sat from the US, so I will have her help me investigate. She is quite handy mom :-) If we ever sort the problem, will let you know.

I did solve the reason why our helps kept smelling like rotten eggs random times of the day. With the help of the plumber, we confirmed manholes were clogged. It was disgusting....like 10 feet of sewage clogged up! Once cleared, you could look 10 feet down the hole. This also effected the back of the house, making the drains fill up and get clogged....with SEWAGE!!!!!!!! DISGUSTING!!! I have bleached, scrubbed with water and dish soap the back a few times.