Strange smell

[grahampb]

Mm.......... not really sure where to start!

For the past 10 days we have had a really strange smell coming from the dining room floor/wall. Next to the dining room is a downsatairs bathroom that was added as a extension, and the smell seems to coming from the gap between the skirting board and the floor, the smell sometimes comes up in the bathroom but not very often. The sewer pipe runs directly outside the dining room,( in conservatory) but is covered by laminate flooring. We recently purchased a powerplate machine (vibration training machine), which sits directly above the sewer pipe in the conservatory. I can only describe the smell as very sour and quite overpowering, kit is not constant but flares up at ivarious intervals. We have thoughly cleaned everywhere but it seems to have made no difference.

Hope someone can advised.

 

[jobloggs]

Is sewer pipe under conservatory UPVC or glazed earthenware?
How deep is it?
How long has conservatory been built?
Does the powerplate transmit significant vibrations into the floor?
If pipes are shallow earthenware could plate have disturbed the joint or even cracked a pipe?
Any smell at the edge of the laminate floor in conservatory?
What type of floor in dining room?

 

[grahampb]

Thanks, answers below.

It is Glazed earthware
About 1.7m
15 years
No, it designed just to go up.
No smell in conservatory.
Parque flooring.

The drain in the kitchen seems to be running slowly, could this have a impact?

 

[rosiew]

sounds like a partial blockage and smell coming out of faulty joint or seal. if u have a chamber get the pros in to firstly unblock blockage and use cctv to see the problem. Firstly though check sink trap isnt blocked first

 

[grahampb]

Thanks for the reply. On investigation the outside drain, where the Kitchen sink drains to was slightly blocked. I have now used a strong unblocker product and the drain is running a bit better and the smell has eased a little. Does this mean that we have a faulty seal somewhere?

 

[rosiew]

have u spoke to your insurance company , u may be covered. Personaly i would call in the pros. If your scared off being ripped off ,try and get recommendations from friends or family

 

[grahampb]

Thanks for your help, will make some calls in the morning.

 

[Richard C]

If you’re getting smells, it’s more than a blockage or a faulty seal; I think you've probably got a collapsed foul drain problem & it could be anywhere. The source of the smell won’t necessarily give the location away but I doubt it was your “vibrator equipment” that caused the problem.

No criticism & no idea if you built the cons. 15 years ago but you should never put a cons base over an old clay foul drain, always replace it with a one piece run in modern plastic; if the problem is under the cons base, your about to discover why but you may be in luck & find the collapse is outside the cons base!

Do watch those conning Dyno un-block bastards, you need to know what's wrong with it in order to put it right. They will probably just jet it & charge you a fortune but the basic problem will still be there & the blockage & smell will return very quickly. You probably need a camera survey but those bastard can rip you off just as much; do get firm quotes before you agree to anything & if you know or can bribe someone working for the local water authority, they sometimes moolight at weekends

 

[grahampb]

It now transpires that we have no 'vent' from the downstairs toliet, could have this caused the smell? We have lived in the property for 4 years without any issues!

Is it a straight forward job to install a vent for the toliet? have the area backs on to the conservatory.

 

[Richard C]

It now transpires that we have no 'vent' from the downstairs toliet, could have this caused the smell? We have lived in the property for 4 years without any issues!

Is it a straight forward job to install a vent for the toliet? have the area backs on to the conservatory.

Not necessarily, who’s feeding you that info? A ground floor loo can easily “not have a vent”, it depends on your foul drain system & how it’s connected!

 

[grahampb]

Thnaks.

My Brother in law told me............ I am really am not very clued up with connections etc... All I know is that the distance from the waste pipe to the sewer is no more than 2.5m.

 

[Richard C]

Thnaks.

My Brother in law told me............ I am really am not very clued up with connections etc... All I know is that the distance from the waste pipe to the sewer is no more than 2.5m.

No offence but does he actually know anything about foul drains? As I said, it’s entirely acceptable to not have a vent on a ground floor loo; you need advice from someone who actually knows what they are talking about does but its impossible to advise & diagnose from a distance without a lot more info. The clue to your problem is that it’s recent so something has happened to change the Status Quo; “whatever you want, whatever you need" ----- sorry sudden impulse.

 

[Nige F]

You are awarded 12 Gold Bars

 

[Richard C]

You are awarded 12 Gold Bars

Tried to get to get some tickets year before last in the local forest, left it too late & they were going 4X face on the touts sites so booked Van Morrison instead. He’s always been brilliant & so was the concert but, unfortunately, a totally ignorant/arrogant ****e. Jools concert last year was equally as good but he’s so much more civilised & engages with the crowd which really makes the night; if you get the chance go for one. Don't do the big gigs anymore; you can't beat small, local, open air forest venues IMO & we try to do at least a couple every year!