Nasty Smell hanging around

[rabbitears]

A few weeks ago we started getting a really vile smell in the bathroom. Not a normal 'bathroom' type smell but a sickly-gassy smell - like someone has been smoking weed in there (they haven't). I cleaned all the plugholes and it seemed to go away. But this week I noticed the same smell again in the loft, the spare bedroom and again in the bathroom. I don't think it can be the plumbing as the spare bedroom is the furthest room away from the bathroom. It's not there all the time but does really get stong when the doors been closed for a while. Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[masona]

Have you tried cleaning the overflow outlet?

 

[noseall]

do you have a 110mm soil vent pipe on the property, which will usually be venting above the eaves level of the roof?

 

[kevplumb]

or an air admittance valve in the loft

 

[libby lou lou]

you have said you cleaned the plugholes and it seemed to go away, ?

 

[plennon]

Dead mouse maybe..?

 

[bernardgreen]

Could it be coming from the loft ?

Perhaps a dead animal or from your neighbours if the wall in the loft is leaky.

 

[rabbitears]

The soil stack does run up a recess inside the house, then through the loft and roof - rather than being on on the outside of the house. Its hard to measure but would be about 100-110mm. There is no air addmittence valve as far as I know. In the loft, the smell is no stronger near to the soil stack than anywhere else. It is not a dead animal, it is a sweet/sickly/gassy smell - not a rotting corpse smell. The smell often appears in the bathroom when you are running a bath - but not everytime.

 

[noseall]

The smell often appears in the bathroom when you are running a bath - but not everytime.

it does sound as though your waste pipes are saturated with noxious smells, and that when the water in the trap is disturbed it's letting the smell out.

can't understand why the pipes are full of stink though. unless the vent is blocked with a birds nest or even a small football!?

 

[rabbitears]

Thank you for your help - I can see how a blockage such as a bird nest in the top of the soil stack would stop the sewer gases escaping and they would then find another way out (through a weak spot or joint in the stack) which would then cause a build up in the loft and bathroom. We have checked that the sewer isn't blocked as well as I realise this would make it worse but everything seems ok. I'm not sure I fully understand how running the bath/sink would make the smell worse as I would have hoped that the bath/sink waste pipes were totally separate from the soil stack. Anyway I will persue bird-nest investigations once the 70mph winds die down. Thanks again