New House...Bad Smell

[BRG25]

I just moved into a house that belongs to my girlfriend that hasn't been lived in for about a year. She bought the house and then due to her mother passing away, she wasn't able to move in.

There is a combo bathroom/laundry room on the ground floor that smells rancid. It doesn't smell like sewage but it smells bad. She believes the septic was pumped before she bought the house and is in the process of finding the paperwork. I don't think the water or toilets were flushed very often during the past year.

What do you guys think? Opinions?

 

[greg_upnorth]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

you might wanna check for dead animals...we got back from vacation this summer and my wife went upstairs. She said there was a bad smell, kinda like a bad animal poo-poo. so i go up there and after looking around found a dead bat that our cat had gotten ahold of....stunk to hi-heaven.

if not an animal, could be a bad trap in your laundry sink, it might not be trapping the gasses correctly. we have that problem in our basement everytime we run the washer...but since it is localized and plenty of ventilation (old house) im not too worried.

 

[thenotsofreeboat]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Yep could be bad/no vent on the waste water lines or it could be just that the sink trap didn't have any water in it to work correctly. The water in the trap acts as a barrier for the swamp gas keeping it in the pipe instead of coming up through the sinks drain.

 

[BRG25]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Yea...could be...my girlfriend thinks it's a dead animal. Seems to be affecting the laundry room and the adjacent bedroom. There is a crawl space I have access to underneath these 2 rooms (the house is a little weird). Maybe I'll have to crawl around tonight and see if I can pinpoint it better.

 

[i386]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

If no water has been ran in the sinks for a while, the traps are dry and allowing gasses to come up from the septic tank. To rule that out. Flush all the toilets and run some water in all the sinks/showers/baths for a minute. Air out the house and see if the smell improves. A little bleach in each drain won't hurt. Just a little though.

If it has central air, make sure that the condensate is draining too. That will definitely smell nasty but not like sewage. Mine exits the house in a 1" PVC pipe. The HVAC guy didn't install a proper cleaning trap for it and it had too many turns to snake out. I found that I can attach the shop-vac to the pipe outside and suck out the nasties. Some people have a pan. I can find no such thing on my unit though.

Hope it's not a dead critter. Eww

 

[BRG25]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

We've been living here for a couple weeks so the water has been running. We do have central air....but it hasn't been on in a while. I live in upstate NY...could snow any day now Actually it's a little early yet but I did get my boat winterized last week.

God I hope it's not a dead critter too...yuck!

 

[i386]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

If it's the central air it doesn't have to be running. If the condensate drain is stopped up it'll smell sour. If that's not it, it may be time to suit up and hit the crawl space.

 

[BRG25]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Good point. I've never had central air before. I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

If you can safely get to the roof go up there with a water house. Run water down the vent pipes for about 5 minutes each. If a dirt dobber or something of the sort got in there it'll give the same symptons.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Heres what I would do. First open the window near by and place a fan in a place to pull out the fumes. Then get one gallon of clorox and pour it into any drains .sinks, tolets etc. Let it stand for one hour then flush everything with water. If you still have the smell then next day check for sewer gas as others mention.....

 

[rwise]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

dont use to much clorox on a septic system, it kills the bactiria that is needed in the system! If it was pumped just before purchase there was a problem with it, why else would they have pumped it? The system may need a jump start with new bactiria, you can get it at most wallmarts etc.

 

[BRG25]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

ok...last night I crawled up, down and all around trying to isolate the smell. I couldn't really do it. It's most noticable in the bathroom/laundry room. I don't think it's a dead animal...I'm leaning more towards the drains. In the crawl space all the drains come together into one main line that leaves the house at a downward angle and there is a clean out plug there. I might try opening that tonight just for kicks. At least the house is fairly new and everything is PVC. Thing is all the drains are working fine, just have this damn smell on the ground floor.

Ken...could you explain a little about the vent pipes on the roof? How does that work? I'm trying to visualize how the drain system works.

How about jump starting the septic with new bacteria? Like with Rid-X?

 

[pgdignan]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

The vent pipe exits from the main drain stack, it's how roto-rooter generally snakes your household drains. If the pvc pipe at the roof line is plugged it won't permit the gas that builds up in the drain lines to vent and it can develop enough pressure (not much pressure required) to permit the sewer gas to percolate through the traps. Good luck.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Is there a washer dryer? I would look under them for nests.

 

[gss036]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Maybe you should be looking for mold as newer houses are somtimes sealed too tightly and retain moisture, especially if it has been a year w/o anyone living in it to keep it aired out. Does it have air exchange system?

 

[BRG25]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Mold??

You're creeping me out here...lol

 

[pgdignan]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Nothing to freak over, just wash it with bleach solution if you find it.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

The vent pipe exits from the main drain stack, it's how roto-rooter generally snakes your household drains. If the pvc pipe at the roof line is plugged it won't permit the gas that builds up in the drain lines to vent and it can develop enough pressure (not much pressure required) to permit the sewer gas to percolate through the traps. Good luck.

Thanks, that saved me some time. Pd hit it on the head here.

 

[rwise]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

How about jump starting the septic with new bacteria? Like with Rid-X?

There are better products than rid-x, I use one that is liquid. Just read the lable/s on whats available.

Try this, stand near a drain in the area that smells, have someone run water down the drain/s. Listen for bubling from the drain near you.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: New House...Bad Smell

Cheap beer works as well as rid-x for getting bacteria in a system. Both of them are so you feel better, doesn't really do much for it.