Awful smell from downstairs loo and shower drain

magicray

Please can anyone help

We are a in a semi d house in the middle of a row of 10 semi d's, we have a manhole in our back garden that is not full/blocked we have checked in fact its totally empty

However there are drain issues with some of the houses to the left of us for the last while, two of the houses built large extensions and the problems seemed to start then - only one of my neighbours will admit to there being a problem the rest of them say they are fine but realistically they cant be ?

I got the council out a while ago and he told me that as my manhole isnt blocked and the main one on the road is ok then its not my problem BUT the smell from my downstairs loo is just stomach churning - same with the shower in the ensuite
I have a bottle over the drain in the shower thats helping to block the smell but its almost impossible to stop it downstairs
The hubby reckons that the drains are blocked again further up and we are getting the gas smell as nothing is running properly

I am really at my wits end with it - is there anything we can do other than get someone with a camera to check ( I looked into this already and am getting quotes that are beyond my reach at the moment ) even if we do manage to find out where the problem is can we actually force a neighbour to sort it out ?

riclad

i saw a similar problem, 7 years ago, turned out , old main sewer pipe , had a broken bit on top part of pipe,
or the trap, cover ,was broken,
this meant the gases from the sewer , would come up
into the house, this was worse when toilet was flushed,
Pipe was going underneath front room,
by removing one floorboard , it was possible to acess pipe and fix it.
there was no leak,,as the hole bout 4x4inch was on top of pipe.
the new cover trap, was 4x4 inch approx.

when i say trap i mean cover,or inspection opening ,usually


the sewer pipe was bout 3ft under front room floor level.on the ground floor.
close all windows, flush toilet,
does the smell get worse.
if so you have a broken sewer pipe ,
probably under ground level.
the trap,broken part was bout 12ft from
the back garden ,sewer manhole.

the fault was found simply by tracing the smell.
is the smell worse downstairs.?
because the trap, or top part was broken ,
there was no leak, just a smell .
when toilet was flushed,
it would cause gas to come up from the main sewer pipe.

SO the problem is likely between the toilet and the main pipe that goes onto main ,sewer on the road.

I,M NOT plumber so thats all the info i can give you.
try flushing, and see is there a room downstairs where you can here the water flowing,
which room has the worst smell,
that room is likely to be ontop ,or near the pipe break, or loose trap.

the fault was actually underneath the wall ,between the kitchen and front room,
but it was easy to acess it from the front room .
ie its an old house terraced.
ie underneath the wall theres a large empty
space gap over the sewer pipe ,
so most of the gas, smell was expelled into the front room.
if you want ill post a drawing to explain it further.
go to library ,get diy book, home plumbing
most sewer pipes will have 1 or 2 traps covers,
for maintenance at ground level,
http://www.connectright.org.uk/documents/PDF%20Guidelines%20-%20Is%20your%20home%20connected%20right.pdf

see diagram,
see red pipe,
shower,bath connects to sewer pipe,
theres probably 1 or 2 traps , on the red pipe,
could be a broken,trap,cover,

see http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/construction/plumbing/Practical-Plumbing/images/Backwater-Traps-7.jpg

http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/construction/plumbing/Practical-Plumbing/Backwater-Traps.html







when i say trap ,i mean the cover ,usually at midpoint or
junction of a sewer pipe, under the house.
in some books it may be called inspection opening,
usually round,or square plastic unit,
can be opened or removed .

ie it could be broken, or just have come loose from pipe,
allowing gas to escape,
which means the rise up into the house ,
if smell is worse downstairs,
that points to pipe ,problem underneath house.
my advice is get a plumber in to see can he trace where the problem is.
of course if house is standard semi d,
you may need to remove floorboards to trace the sewer pipe.

if your house is detached from neighbour on the left,,problem is unlikely to be your neighbour on the left,s fault.


i reckon the problem is somewhere between
manhole at rear of house ,and the connection to main sewer pipe on the road,traps/covers
likely to be closer to rear of house than front door,
as there,s maybe 1 or 2 traps,covers underneath the floor,
ground level.
maybe get quote,
camera check on main sewer pipe from back garden manhole ,
to connection to road main pipe.
ie i,d start looking for fault from manhole ground level,back garden
side ,
have you a ground floor loo, there maybe be a manhole ,acess point near it.
if i remember correctly the cover was just off the trap on the pipe,
or there was no cover to be seen,
so a new cover was put on it, it was sealed.
immediatly the smell ,gas was gone,
once cover was on the pipe, there was no leak ,or breakage, in the pipe.
ie the pipe itself was structurally fine,undamaged.
there was no camera used,in this case,
it was found by following smell, and looking for the pipe under
the floorboard.

as smell is downstairs ,try and trace it,
i,d put money on ,problem is main sewer pipe under house,
somewhere between, rear garden manhole,
and front door,
ie if fault was under,garden or road,
its unlikely you could smell it.
which room downstairs has the worst smell.?
it s identical symptoms to what my friend had 7 years ago in his gaff.
the new cover he fitted was 4x4 inch approx.

if you rodd pipe ,where u can hear the rod, loudest,is likely where the fault is located,
as there will be a hole, or loose cover at that point.

a techie might ductape ,using waterproof tape,,glue. a mobile phone, to a plumbing, rod. press record video,seal in waterproof container plastic.

if it was just a straight pipe,run from manhole to ,under front room.
course you might end up losing your phone.
3 sell android phones 60 euro.

magicray

Thanks for all that riclad

The smell isnt there all the time, it comes and goes which is the frustrating part as soon as you think the problem is gone its back again

Its worse in the loo thats under the stairs, we have a big manhole in the back garden and a small one down the side entrance - we lifted the small one tonight and the smell when its open is awful so we think thats whats coming back into the house
The covers seem to be very well sealed to be honest as it took a lot of effort to lift it

riclad

I,M not talking bout the manhole covers ,
im saying the sewer pipe under the house has a loose trap/inspection cover which releases gas into the house ,
thats why smell is downstairs.
its also possible theres a break age in the pipe ,which causes release of gases .
i think the sewer pipe is at least 12 inches underneath
floor ,so you might be able to trace the exact pipe route
by using sewer rods,
ie follow the noise.of rods.


manhole covers are there to allow rodding, inspection,
in case of blocked pipes.
i dont know your house ,layout,
so can you visually trace pipes,
by lifting floorboards i dont know.

i my friends gaff, it was handy cos there was an empty space bout 10 inch x 6 inch wide ,behind floorboards.
underneath the wooden wall, front room ,
wall, this was probably left empty for inspection ,maintenance,purpose when house was being built.

you could probably rent pipe rods or borrow them,
to see if you could work out pipe route from sound s it makes as it goes along pipes.


otherwise you, have choice , lift up floors,
or use a pipe camera to locate exactly where the fault is,
pipe underground is broke ,or there is a loose trap/ pipe inspection cover.

there may be a trap underneath a built in closet.
downstairs.
the fault is very likely between downstairs loo ,and front door .or where pipe passes under front wall of house,

the smell should appear worse, when loo is flushed ,
ie water passing thru pipe pushes gas thru open
trap, or breakage point in pipe, or thru trap,cover thats
loose,open.
maybe you could contact builder or council.planning department,.
they may have architects drawings,
blueprint showing exact map,
position of main sewer pipe in your house.
when a house is built blueprints ,map is usually
given to local council by builder or architect.
if house s are identical,built in the same way,
some of your neighbours might know exact route
of sewer pipes in all the houses.

you could put a large amount of water thru the pipe with hose ,to help you trace the route,layout ,
ie see can you hear out in kitchen, front room the water as it goes thru the main pipe under the floor.
if you want to see a trap,cover you,ll have to likely lift a few floorboards at least.

depending on the house layout ,
a plumber could likely work out where the fault is located.
it probably comes and goes,
as when water in main pipe rises ,it forces gas out thru pipe.
which rises into the lower part of the house,
as happened in my friends gaff.
the smell was not there all the time.
say u have 3 rooms, downstairs,kitchen,front room,hall,
the fault is very likely,in the main pipe ,
underneath the ground, underneath one of those rooms,
one of those rooms should be worse than the other 2.
presuming theres just 1 break,or loose ,open cover.
you might be able to work out by smell, under which room, the fault is,
eg on the left side of the kitchen.
it would help ,if you could get a diagram, map of the exact layout
of the main sewer pipe under the house ,from the builder ,or council planning dept.
there may be 1 or 2 sewer pipes under house,,ie 1 from loo downstairs, which
joins up with main pipe from upstairs loo.