We've had intermittent sewer smells downstairs for at least the last two years, but have never been able to locate the source. At one point last year we could also smell white spirit (or something similar).
My suspicion is that fumes\odours are coming up from the sewer into our house. Recently we have been doing some work in our kitchen which meant removing some of the plasterboard, and I'm sure in the draft from behind the boards the smell was stronger.
We have a downstairs toilet, but it never smells in that room but does in the adjacent rooms, which is why I thought it wasn't coming from the toilet. However I now think that maybe the smell is coming from this soil pipe but because the soil pipe area is boxed in, the smell doesn't escape into this room but finds its way into the cavity behind the plasterboards in the adjacent rooms.
Tonight I cut a whole in the plasterboard to look at the boxed in area behind the toilet. Now I can see where the toilet connects to the soil pipe, and also this sink waste from the kitchen. The soil pipe rises above these, but is open at the top. Currently the air in this boxed area doesn't smell (smells of washing detergent probably from the washing machine in the kitchen), so will have to wait and see if it does.
I've read a little about AAVs so I assumed one of these would be connected at the top of the soil pipe but was not closing properly.
I admit I know very little about sewerage plumbing, but surely if this pipe is open at the top we would get smells coming in ... or am I completely missing something and there is another valve lower down?
I've attached pictures (if it works).
In this picture you can see the toilet waste pipe entering the soil pipe:
In this picture is the top of the soil pipe:
Another picture:
In this picture you can also see the waste pipe from the kitchen coming in from the left:
Please could someone who knows more about this than me tell me if this is right?
My suspicion is that fumes\odours are coming up from the sewer into our house. Recently we have been doing some work in our kitchen which meant removing some of the plasterboard, and I'm sure in the draft from behind the boards the smell was stronger.
We have a downstairs toilet, but it never smells in that room but does in the adjacent rooms, which is why I thought it wasn't coming from the toilet. However I now think that maybe the smell is coming from this soil pipe but because the soil pipe area is boxed in, the smell doesn't escape into this room but finds its way into the cavity behind the plasterboards in the adjacent rooms.
Tonight I cut a whole in the plasterboard to look at the boxed in area behind the toilet. Now I can see where the toilet connects to the soil pipe, and also this sink waste from the kitchen. The soil pipe rises above these, but is open at the top. Currently the air in this boxed area doesn't smell (smells of washing detergent probably from the washing machine in the kitchen), so will have to wait and see if it does.
I've read a little about AAVs so I assumed one of these would be connected at the top of the soil pipe but was not closing properly.
I admit I know very little about sewerage plumbing, but surely if this pipe is open at the top we would get smells coming in ... or am I completely missing something and there is another valve lower down?
I've attached pictures (if it works).
In this picture you can see the toilet waste pipe entering the soil pipe:
In this picture is the top of the soil pipe:
Another picture:
In this picture you can also see the waste pipe from the kitchen coming in from the left:
Please could someone who knows more about this than me tell me if this is right?
That pipe is connected to the sewer, and should either terminate externally or have an AAV fitted. Looks like you can access the pipe now so stick an AAV on the end, and I would leave it accessible if possible, AAV's have been known to stick open.
