smelly drains in house

[deknjoe]

hiya,
we recently moved into a 1970's house and all the drain holes are inside eg bathroom waste including loo, kitchen etc - the kitchen pongs to high heaven but we thought it was because the pipe from the sink waste was just slipped into a hole in the ceramic tiles on the floor. we refitted our kitchen and bought a rubber seal 100mm or might of been 110mm to fit the pottery type drain that is in the floor but we still have the smell especially when the dishwasher is on empty - the dishwasher is connected above the u bend thingie on the waste pipe for sink any ideas ? smell is not coming from sink def from the drain hole

 

[fernando]

Sounds like you have a blockeage. Is the water slow to drain? You may want to lift some of the drain covers to see if there are any 'things' blocking the drain or if you don't fancy it call one of the drain companies, but likely to cost circa £100.

We moved into a house last july, had a bad smell from the kitchen sink, drove me mad. Then I noticed the water in the cloakroom sink was not draining quickly. Lifted one of the drain covers in the garden and discovered about 2 months worth of 'shxt'. Got a drain company out, they didn't really do a great job and a few weeks later it was bloked again and me and the neighbour got some rods to clear it about two weeks later my neighbour who helped me had a load of sludge in his garden. In essence we had just pushed the problem his way, he subsequently pushed it further along. All clear now and no problems since.

One thing I have noticed is outside drains / sewer drains generally don't smell unless something is either dead in them or there is a blockage. So whilst your waste from the sink may have not be ideal, i doubt it was/is the problem.

 

[deknjoe]

thanks will get hubby to lift manhole whilst i peep through kitchen window water from downstairs bathroom does drain a little slower i suppose but the water goes straight to manhole so if there is gunk i'm guessing will be in manhole ewwwwww

 

[fernando]

it all depends where the drains run. the drain from my cloakroom (includes both neighbours) runs from the front of my house down the side and across my back garden to my neighbour. The drain from the kitchen runs from the back of the house, joins up with the drain carrying the sewage from upstairs and meets the drain from the front somewhere in the gsrden. Took me ages to work it out, therefore your cloakroom may have nothign to do with your kitchen or might have everything to do with it. is there a smell coming from any other sinks?

working out where your drains run is very worthwhile if you do have a block as it will enable you to work out why. could well be your neighbours fault!

 

[deknjoe]

our kitchen and bathrooms are at front of house - manhole is in path at front of house - each house has its own manhole - do you think then our manhole will join with next doors- do drains run like that? who thought up that idea ??? sheesh

 

[breezer]

you should watch "life of grime" drains running into each other is quite common.

best one was about 6 houses all ran into 1 drain, one at the top of hill was fine, one at the bottom had "extra fertiliser*" on the lawn

* with added lumps

on other times you do see the lid lifted and the water is not water, its brownish with "floating lumps"

 

[deknjoe]

ewww i saw that one the garden was floating with jobs - not so bad if they're all your own but other peoples just is not right - will report back tomorrow!

 

[fernando]

yeah your drains will definately join other houses. Our drain is joined by 2 others and then runs to another house at the back and then onto the main drain in the road, odd as the main drain on our road is 30 ft from the house but up a slight hill.

When we had our block it was nothing to do with one of our neighbours, but as it was blocked this end it effected him and the whiff was also in his house. It may well have been him putting the floor wipes down the loo that blocked it but it was stuck on our bit at our cost.

I would talk to your neighbours, if it smells as bad as it does and it is the drains it will be effected them also. You will also probably find that there is more than one man hole cover, we have two in the front garden and two in the back.