Pigletjohn or anyone with damp experience!

[spikeandbuffy]

My bathroom smells damp, like a wet towel or mildew
Nobody else can smell it but me, however I have a nose like a bloodhound
En suite bathroom with shower cubicle, toilet and sink which is all 17 years old. Everything is bone dry, and I have been round sniffing on my hands and knees

Disclaimer I am not good at this DIY stuff!

It has a extractor fan which makes no difference to the smell
A dehumidifier doesn't change it and it doesn't show high humidity
To me the smell is worse the day after I have showered at night

So far I have
Treated condensation mould behind toilet (normal, had it before and no damp smell)
Looked behind toilet and cistern with a torch (dry)
Prised off shower tray plinth (nothing but builders rubbish, dry)
Checked behind sink to find nothing but cobwebs
Resealed a part of the shower tray
The annoying thing is everything else is boxed in including behind the toilet and all pipework

I had a new shower door fitted ages ago which got this weird red mark not long after
Photos attached

@pigletjohn is fab - but they are like Nanny McPhee or Beetlejuice. You have to call...😁

It could be travelling along pipework before it drips closer to your en-suite and makes the smell.

No loft, just the other apartment above
The boxing in down the side of the toilet (vertically) is where the stopcock is and has an access point
I've taken that off and sniffed as has been a prev leak from there where they had to replace the soil pipe

Honestly if I had the money I would have ripped out all the boxing by now!
Nothing from radiator, it's above a boxed in bit and is totally dry
I've had both me and my dad crawling around with torches and phone video/lights in every bloody corner, he thinks I've gone mad but he couldn't smell damp if it was under his nose

Should add the plumber guy is property maintenance too so hopefully he's fairly experienced but he is very reluctant to start opening the can of worms

I mean I'm guessing at some point it will turn into a giant leak, something will collapse or it'll go away

When I took the shower plinth off I deliberately soaked every wall in the shower cubicle and checked all around to make sure no drips at all

Do you use the shower very much? The shower in our guest en suite sometimes has a funny smell and I realised it’s because the water in the trap beneath the plug (I think that’s what it’s called) evaporates in summer and it allows the eggy smell of the drains to come up into the room. It could explain the gas smell you had.

My money is also on the drains, probably the shower trap. Ours stinks if it isn't cleaned every five minutes 😕

Yes daily. The shower above the bath has a bit of a dodgy shower screen so I tend to stick with the en suite!

Right I've never cleaned the shower thing... it just looks like a plug hole so no idea how to get that off! Off to shine a torch on it....

I would get that boxing off and have a look. Peel all the silicone off, run a sharp blade around the edges and see if the top can be slid away. That shower run has little drop and I assume is travelling quite a way. Hair, gunk etc will have built up.

Sewer gas smell has similarities to domestic gas. If it is the day after you shower I think there is a possibility of a small blockage causing syphoning on the water traps allowing gasses to pass back up into the room. When you get the smell, don't run any water but use a torch and inspect the all traps to see if the water level has dropped. Check in the connecting bathroom as well. Do you get any gurgling at all while water is draining?

I can't work yours out from the picture, but ours has cup thing you can lift out and omg it gets so grim with hair and mould 🤢 it's awful!

That "red mark" is red mould so that's probably it, surely?

I've not had the boxing off but the shower plinth, and that leads to the boxing so it was open if that makes sense? Had my head virtually in it and no smell

This is my shower drain if anyone knows how I would remove it

I don't think it is
I had a new shower door fitted and 48hrs later the red mark appeared
Plumber (not the one I'm using now!) blamed me for using red shower gel (I didn't) so it appeared way too quick for mould

Not adverse to having that stripped out though and will mention to plumber as it's one of the cheaper jobs....

Sorry I forgot to answer - no gurgling from any sink, shower, bath etc

Watching with interest because we have an intermittent musty smell in our bathroom - I'm working on a theory that the badly-covered loft cisterns are picking up attic smell on a damp day. We also get condensation in our loft, and I am trying to figure out why and how to fix it.

Like you, I have a bloodhound nose, and am trying to get husband and plumbers interested in this project... they can't smell anything, but I have been proven right before... 🐶

I'm sure it's a man thing that they can't smell stuff!
Although the Tesco driver last night said the place had a lovely smell I wasn't even burning a candle or anything!

I can cover the smell by using a wax melt or something but not really the best fix. Bit like turning the car radio up to hide the rattle

The mark is 'red mould' which is technically a bacteria rather than mould. The fact that the mark appeared within 48hrs confirms that your bathroom is damp.

My bet is on the waste from the adjacent bath leaking, spreading and causing damp in the wall or floor

@AquaLeader interesting.... door was fitted maybe 18 months ago, smell started about 8 weeks ago
The red stuff hasn't spread or changed
There is a cracked tile in the shower (near the red stuff) but it's been cracked for 18 years and I've sealed it periodically

Will ask plumber to look at that bit specifically

Would that happen even if the bath wasn't used? I often don't use it for a month or so (it gets cleaned but more wiped out so no water down drain)
This plumbing stuff is complex!

You need to be getting water down the bath weekly. Just run the tap for 5 mins when cleaning.

My bet is still a small blockage syphoning a trap and the rarely used bath being part of the issue as it looks likely the bathroom wastes all join. Run the bath, shower and both sinks for a good 10 mins stick a bit of washing up liquid in each one first as they can help things to slide through . A large amount of water could clear it or make the problem visible if one starts causing problems like gurgling, struggling to drain or filling up before draining v rapidly.

Ideally get the shower and bath traps off, otherwise you can get brushes/hooks for yanking hair out. Give all the traps a clean out.

Are you sure it's not an olfactory hallucination? There are such things ....

Exactly! You'd know it was there too, it would drive you wild...

I think it's partly denial with my DH - he'd rather wait until stuff falls apart to fix it because he can't stand the anxiety of having trades in - an emergency takes the decision out of his hands... 😡

Definitely not
I don't smell it anywhere else!

Have you been overwatering plants in there? Done that a few times. The water that sits in the pot smells awful, and if course the soil is damp and earthy.