Laundry room stinks when I take a shower? Is the washing machine drain backed up?

Question

I have a 2nd floor laundry and a 2nd floor shower. Every time a take a shower, the laundry room stinks like musty mildew, but then goes away a couple hours later and doesn't stink at all. What's wrong??

Answer 1

I am the original poster but since I can't answer my own question I had to log in on another account.
I've fixed the problem so hopefully this will help someone else. My washing machine has a drain basin. The trap was apparently dried out according to a friend of mine. All we had to do was pour some water down the drain in the basin and the problem was fixed!
So Walter was on the right track with his comment (thank you) but it proved to be a very easy fix!

Answer 2

You need to get a trap installed pronto in that washer drain. Waht'a happing is that you have sewer gasses coming up when you take your showers. I imagine that a trap wasn't installed when the the laundry was put in, all that might need to be done is find the pipe and glue it into place. The trap holds water to seal gasses out. The vent for your shower or laundry may also be clogged too, call a plumber for this job if you don't know what yopu're doing.

Answer 3

Can you say Bleach?

Pour some into the drain