Hello, all-
A common problem, I'm sure -- I hope it might have a common solution!
We have an odor showing up in our bathroom, it doesn't smell like sewage but more like the smell one gets when you remove the sink trap for some reason. It pretty well isn't present when one first walks into the bathroom but shows up after we turn on the exhaust fan (whether or not the toilet is used and/or flushed).
I suspect the fan is drawing the odor in from somewhere but I'm not sure. Here are the clues:
1) The bathroom is in a one story part of the house with two 3 outside walls.
2) It is in the very end process of a remodel and the baseboards are not yet in.
3) The crawlspace under it both looks and smells fine.
And perhaps the most telling clue: at the time of the remodel our contractor said the drains (sink, shower, and bathtub) could be vented inside the wall with a studor vent. Being pretty "old school" (used to vents through the roof) I was a bit suspicious but when I crawl underneath it appears that is what he did -- the 3 above drains feed into a single pipe (with appropriate traps in each). "Upstream" from these connections the pipe runs to an outside wall and I can see the bottom of what looks like a 90º elbow turning up just inside the bottom wall plate so it goes through the floor. At this point the vertical pipe is behind a tiled-in pedestal bathtub, where it then is routed into the 2X4 wall and straight up.
I just spoke with my contractor who said he's done this many times with no problem.
Any ideas about where this odor might be coming from?
Thanks!
Philip
A common problem, I'm sure -- I hope it might have a common solution!
We have an odor showing up in our bathroom, it doesn't smell like sewage but more like the smell one gets when you remove the sink trap for some reason. It pretty well isn't present when one first walks into the bathroom but shows up after we turn on the exhaust fan (whether or not the toilet is used and/or flushed).
I suspect the fan is drawing the odor in from somewhere but I'm not sure. Here are the clues:
1) The bathroom is in a one story part of the house with two 3 outside walls.
2) It is in the very end process of a remodel and the baseboards are not yet in.
3) The crawlspace under it both looks and smells fine.
And perhaps the most telling clue: at the time of the remodel our contractor said the drains (sink, shower, and bathtub) could be vented inside the wall with a studor vent. Being pretty "old school" (used to vents through the roof) I was a bit suspicious but when I crawl underneath it appears that is what he did -- the 3 above drains feed into a single pipe (with appropriate traps in each). "Upstream" from these connections the pipe runs to an outside wall and I can see the bottom of what looks like a 90º elbow turning up just inside the bottom wall plate so it goes through the floor. At this point the vertical pipe is behind a tiled-in pedestal bathtub, where it then is routed into the 2X4 wall and straight up.
I just spoke with my contractor who said he's done this many times with no problem.
Any ideas about where this odor might be coming from?
Thanks!
Philip