Foul smell in subfloor

[CC86]

Hi,

This is my first time posting. This is a long story but I will try and stick to pertinent points!

Back at start of May, I noticed a foul smell in ground floor of my house. To cut a long story short, theres a long waste pipe that runs from the back to front of the house. There had been a failure in pipe near front of house (i.e. raw sewage from cloackroom toilet was spilling on subfloor) and unbelieveably there was a failure near the complete opposite end of the waste pipe at back of the house where the stack from upstairs ensuite had disconnected from main pipe (again, sewage, waste water etc, spilling all over the floor). The two areas have been santised and cleaned professionally.

However, I can still smell a rather unpleasant smell downstairs. Its not necessarily a raw sewage smell - its a musty, sour, foosty smell maybe with a hint of sewage underneath it. If I lift the panels in the access hatch and stick my head down in sub floor, it really does smell down there. The smell is coming from subfloor.

The people who have been doing the work insist theres no more sewage down there (Im pretty sure they havent checked the whole length of the pipe but maybe 85% of it). They also say as theres no more flies down there, that points to no more sewage. But if it isnt sewage, then what could smell be!? One of the guys who have been working in the house suggested the bricks have absorbed contaminated material and thats the smell? So, do I just have to live with that??

The insurance have instructed a drains specialist to come out and survey the pipes in case theres a crack and thats how odours are escpaing. I'm worried they dont find the source then Im going to be told to live with it (and I cant!).

Ive definetly summarised here because its been a long 4 months with lots of plumbers out at my house but I think thats the main story so far. Any thoughts, help or advice anyone has to offer will be gratefully recieved. Thanks!

 

[JohnD]

How is the floor void ventilated?

 

[jj4091]

Could it still be in the cavity

 

[CC86]

@JohnD , I believe there are air bricks in the foundations and similar to the outside. We also left the hatch in the floor open and front door open for days on end to allow smells etc to escape. Over the duration of this disaster, whenever the subfloor has been professionally cleaned, we've had an air circulator in place which in my opinion, only served to move the smell about (!).

@jj4091 , yeah, possibly but everyone keeps telling me I would have flies if there was any more contaminant down there. (And I can confirm, I did have thousands of flied when this all kicked off!)

thanks both for your replies!

I was reading last night about mould spores and I feel the smell of mold spores as described online is what I am smelling (https://greenorchardgroup.com/what-does-mold-smell-like-how-can-you-tell/ the description here is exactly what I smell.) But how on earth do I find mould in my sub floor - it's a large area but has tiny depth.....45cm!?

 

[JohnD]

I believe there are air bricks

Believe?

Have a look.

 

[CC86]

Well, I have seen them and there are air bricks to the outside too. I couldn't comment on the number of them. All the work has been undertaken my trades people to my house which is why I don't know numbers etc

I wrote "believe" because I honestly am a complete novice in this area. I couldnt have told you what an air brick, stack, e.t.c was a couple of months ago!

 

[JohnD]

Walk round the house and see how many there are. One every two metres is not too many. They need to be on at least two sides of the house, and unobstructed, to get airflow. The ones we are looking for need to be below floor level.

 

[Needsleep]

Hi having lived in 2 flats with sewage fumes, what you describe are definitely sewage fumes. The smell can vary and can even be sweet and like bleach due to ammonia being released. Methane is also released which is very dangerous as is flammable.

In the first flat I experienced it, the smell varied from burning faeces, only faeces, sulphur and only burning. The smell was coming from a long area behind my bed which shared a wall at the same angle with the bathroom. The toliet was next to the bedroom, but the smell came only from behind my bed and nighttables. The smells were very heady and I couldn’t open the windows. It made me ill, it caused me to feel faint and have day-long migraines. Eventually I moved out after 3 weeks and got my tenancy cancelled using advice on the shelter website on being miss-sold a rented accommodation. If you’re renting look up unwinding your tenancy:

Unwind your tenancy agreement - Shelter England

You have the right to unwind a tenancy agreement under consumer law if you signed because of a misleading action or information from the landlord or agent.

england.shelter.org.uk

Shelter Legal England - Tenant remedies for unfair trading practices - Shelter England

Consumer protection law may provide a remedy if an unfair commercial practice has caused tenants to make decisions they would not otherwise have made.

england.shelter.org.uk

I used the letter template in the first link to convince the landlord to let me go. There are tenancy disrepair laws you should also read up on to add pressure to end your tenancy. This is not a problem to live with it or wait for complete repair, the house is uninhabitable, which what you should put in your letter.

In a flat I just moved out of I also had sewage fumes, which smelled of a mixture of bleach and mustiness. Again very heady and always had to leave windows open no matter the weather. The plumber found the drip tube from the beginning of the trap under the shower was loose and pushed it back in place. But the smell came back and it looked like the component was loose again. I sent photos to the landlady but she denied that the plumber found anything wrong. The dip tube would had cost just 82p to replace. I did move out early, but due to different reasons.