New house, whiffy drains / bathroom smells

[a1sysman]

Good afternoon all

We have a new build, less than two months since first occupied by my wife and I.

We have a downstairs bathroom with sink and toilet, and three upstairs bathrooms with sinks and toilets.

There is a noticeable whiffy smell in each of the bathrooms, more so downstairs. Our builder suggested it was fresh paint smell when we first pointed it out to him. We are now certain the smell is not a paint issue having investigated, nose first, the smell is coming up from the drains.

I fitted U bend pipework under each sink in an attempt to prevent unpleasant odour coming back. The shower drains seem to be the main culprit.

Grateful for any suggestions as to what I can do to eradicate or prevent the whiffy smell coming back up and into the bathrooms please?

TIA

[Soner]

Did they install a air pipe that runs from main drain to roof level?
Did they use a u-bend for the shower drain?
Finally, it may even be coming from toilet. I found that if you silicon the base of the toilet, where it sits on floor, will eradicate smell.

[13roman58]

As soner said is there a vent pipe running from the drain to roof level it's not called a stench pipe for nothing
Seal the holes behind the sinks where the drain pipe goes out.
Hope this helps.

[Keithcaley]

If the smell is definitely coming from the shower drain holes, then the builder may not have fitted U bends...

Moulded shower trays usually have enough clearance to fit a U bend underneath (as do baths), but if the shower 'tray' is formed straight onto the bathroom floor and no U bend has been fitted, then - apart from digging the floor up - you could ask the builder to fit a U bend outside where the drain pipe from the shower connects to the stench pipe, provided that the connection is actually outside, and not embedded in the floor!

One other possibility is that the smell is coming in through the bathroom window - if the stench pipe does not extend at least 12 inches above the eaves (and preferably a bit more), this is a very common phenomenon!

Good luck!

[Mowgli597]

We have a similar problem in our rented house with one of the downstairs bathrooms particularly affected. The smell comes from the drain in the shower floor (get down on your hands and knee and sniff!). Since this shower is rarely used (we use the “en-suite” in the bedroom daily) we’ve found by experiment and local help that the problem is probably that which is described by Keith: the shower tray is not a moulded one but is rather formed by the builder and tiled. We suspect no U-bend underneath it.

The shower drain does, however, have a bottle trap which collects debris and which needs cleaning. In the unused shower the water in this trap, which, when full, covers the drain hole out into the septic tank, dries out. Thus the smell from the tank/other drains can get back into the room.

The solution is to let water flow through that unused shower drain every few days to ensure the level stays above the outlet hole. We also fitted a plug to help stop the smell coming back (and deter cockroaches during their season!)

I seem to recall another poster on the forum mentioning keeping a damp rag in the drain hole to help “seal” it.

Hope this makes sense.

[Maisiemoo]

15 years ago we had the same problem! On inspection we found our builder had fitted the stench pipe so it ended just under the guttering, but once it was pointed out to him and rectified we had no more problems.

[tomsteel]

15 years ago we had the same problem! On inspection we found our builder had fitted the stench pipe so it ended just under the guttering, but once it was pointed out to him and rectified we had no more problems.

All the properties on our small estate suffered the same problem. Extending the ' stench ' pipe by three feet above the roof of the house resolved the issue.

[Mint1955]

Short term fix if it’s in the shower drain use two fairly soft plastic bags one inside the other for strength. Fill with water tie a knot and plop it over the drain hole it will settle to the size and stop smells coming back. Ours was no bend fitted so all smells came straight back up.

[sophie]

14 years ago we had very same problem, it was fixed almost immediately, as with other people, the stench pipe was at least 4ft too short.

[ElectricianPete]

I have found that in some houses that the toilet has been badly fitted and that the smell is coming from underneath the toilet. It involves taking the toilet out and checking that the pipe underneath has been correctly fitted.
Also as others have mentioned, the "Stink Pipe" should be above the eaves, as the smell can come back through an open window.
Also check all "U" Bends, behind sinks.

[gates]

If you get in touch i will come & check for you http://www.braceybuilders .com

[thornaby]

As electrician Pete said the standard of installations here can be very bad. I have remOved two shower trays neither of which had the trap connected to the drains, had an ongoing bad smell problem in the main bathroom, removed the toilet, found a mass of silicon on the pan connector to drain pipe. The drain in the floor was positioned to far from the wall, to avoid the toilet being to far off the wall they badly fitted an eccentric connector along with the normal pan connector along with a load of silicon.. Always amazed at how badly the standard of work can be whether is plumbing or electrical!

[a1sysman]

If you get in touch i will come & check for you http://www.braceybuilders .com

Thank you for the offer. However, we are in Karşıyaka and you are in Esentepe. Realistically, that is too far to come out west to just check for me - especially as our builder is still working on site (he is still not accepting the smell is emanating from the wastes).

By the way, when I click on your web link I am returned a "502 Bad Gateway". It's just the space before ".com" causing the link to fail.

[a1sysman]

Thank you all for your advice. Very much appreciated.

Toilets were fitted by a "Johnny Ten Thumbs" who siliconed around where pan meets the floor, where pan meets the cistern and where cistern meets the wall. I stripped all this silicone away as a couple of toilets are not fitted flush to the wall anyhow, and one toilet is not fitted true straight. If I remove the toilets I expect to find poor waste fitting with liberal use of silicone there too.

The stink pipes may be an issue as we have large eaves. The stink pipes stop below the eaves - need to address this somehow. We do not want the tiled roof to be compromised with stink pipes running through it.

The under sink plumbing here is rubbish IMHO. I went to Superhome Center in the south and picked up U bends for bathroom sinks - I would have bought in the north but struggled to find any suitable.

Shower wastes go down into the stone floor - I was assured U bends were fitted but I am not convinced.

One way valves to fit onto the waste outlet outside - can these be purchased this side? Has anyone seen them please?

[Keithcaley]

You can get around the eaves by using a couple of 315 degree bends to do a dog's leg past the guttering...

You can form a U bend on a flexi pipe with a plastic tie wrap (or a length of string .)

I've not found any one way valves suitable for waste pipes over here, but you can get flapper valves on ebay... They do need to be fitted on a horizontal section of pipe, of course...

On balance, I think that the first thing to tackle is extending the stench pipes above the eaves.

[wanderer]

We occasionally have the problem and its the flexible draining pipe from the sink splitting and the resulting water causing the smell because of the heat the water evaporates leaving the smell

[gates]

Hi thanks think i put gap in http://www.braceybuilders.com this one works . I was in Karsiaka yesterday will probably be again over the weekend

[Geoff1131]

If you can get at enough of the pipework from the shower drain to fit a non return valve. Then surely you can cut the pipe and fit a running trap? This can be done using push fit waste fittings so that they can easily be pulled apart if needed.

[Geoff1131]

One more point, about the stench pipe. If it is going to be difficult to extend the pipe around the eaves, why not fit a air admittance valve directly into the pipe at the top? Not seen them out here but a common piece of kit in the UK.

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