Odor from New Home Bathroom without using the bathroom.?

Question

I just moved into a new home and I have noticed a foul odor from the bathroom. We do not have a septic tank and we use city sewers. It smells as if someone has farted, or rotten eggs. I am not sure where it is coming from and seems to come and go.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! I am concerned if it sewer odors that will spell more problems, or possibly kill us.

WHAT IS IT, AND WHAT SHOULD I DO TO TAKE CARE OF IT?

Serious answers only preferably ... no opinions, just answers from plumbers or people that have had this problem.

We moved in on February 16th 2007 the house was built in 2006

Answer 1

If the house sat empty, it's very possible that the sewer gases came back up. Just to make sure it's not a root problem, try using Rid Ex or a root solvent down your sewer access. If you don't find that airing the room for a week and using a sewer line cleaner doesn't work, then you'll have to hire a plumber to come out and put a camera into your sewer lines. It's very expensive, but will diagnose if you have a root problem interfering with your sewer lines.

The other thing to consider is did you hire a home inspector? If so, share your concern with him and have him come back out to reinspect it for you. He has to stand by his inspection or you have a claim against his E&O insurance.

Answer 2

the house was built in 2006, you moved in recently, this is 2007. Nobodys been in the house to use the bathroom. The water in the traps evaporated, run water in all the fixtures if the smell doesn't go away, there is probably a broken pipe or a missing p-trap on a fixture. If it sat unheated a trap could have frozen and broke.

The clogged vent theory is true in a sense, but a clogged vent doesn't cause the sewer gas to re-enter the house, it's the broken pipe that does that. The system is sealed, one end connects to the city sewer, the other goes out the roof, the rest is sealed off by water traps (p-traps) don't let someone tell you the gas is from a plugged vent. A plugged vent will only be an accomplice to a break in the system.

I'm 90% positive it's caused from the water evaporating from the traps from sitting dormant. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen this happen. Run some water, air the place out real good and give it a few days to see if that clears it up.

Answer 3

it is hard to tell by your description, how often is this bathroom used? if this is a guest bath and gets little use, the water in the traps has evaporated and sewer gas is entering through them. run the water in all of the fixtures in the bathroom and if that is all that is wrong, that will stop the odor. if that doesn't stop the odors, one of your drain traps is most likely siphoning the water out. in this case, your new home should be covered by a warranty and the builder will have to get a plumber out to fix that. these days with houses being built with multiple baths that don't get used daily, this is a common occurrence. for the future, run the water in all of the fixtures at least once a week. you probably noticed the odors more on a windy day if the traps were dry, since the wind would stop the sewer gases from exiting the waste stack on the roof. good luck, hope this fixes things for ya!

Answer 4

Call the builder, your new home is still under warranty. You obviously have a plumbing issue. It could be the traps or improper venting without inspecting it no one can give you an exact answer.
You did say you never use the bathroom. You may try running water down the sinks, it could be that the water has evaporated from the P-trap and is no longer forming a vapor seal. If that is the problem, no-charge and simple, beyond that a plumber needs to have a look, but it should be the builders responsibility to make it right.

Answer 5

Probably a roof leak that allows water to enter the house and a colony of mold and mildew have been thriving. This happens along the rubber seal at the roof line where a crack in the rubber developes and lets water in along the vent pipe. .

The second thing that has a rather rotten smell is an active colony of iron eating bacteria in your water closet which is part of the toilet. Remove that cover and take a look in there. If you see a ring of black or red scum at the water line then you may have found the answer. Shut off the water, drain it and clean with detergent and toilet brush.


Certainly sewer gas can be directly sucked into your house which is probably under negitive pressure due to a gas furnace which uses house air for combustion due possibly to an inwall pipe which has seperated at a connection. Shine a flashlight in the basement right onto the main stack and see if you can see any leaks of sewage coming down.

Answer 6

I manage homes for 20 years.
Is this a Brand new home or has someone lived in it before.
If it is brand new see your contractor/builder as he must stand behind his work.
If this is an older home it could be many things.
I had an odor like this once and it was because a mouse got lodged in where the sewer pipe was and died and rotted. If there was ventilation you did not smell it but when it was closed up the odor came.
Mice like to get near warmth and water sources and get trapped there.
To check you can take the toilet out and look at the sub-floor. If that area is easy to remove and replace do it. It is amazing how mice can get in tight spots.
But remember the little critter can be inside walls too where they die.
It can even carry from the attic above that room.
I just had an entire home remodeled. We found deat mice near the sewer pipes under the floor, and in the attic. The were dead and smelling.

Since you are not on septic it can not be an overflow problem or a seepage problem. City sewers are very efficient. If I were you I would call handyman, plumber, or contractor and ask for a free estimate. They can get to the root of the problem and you can later fix yourself if you do not like the estimate. It never hurts to get several free estimate. I always do and I never go with the lowest or highest.
But I think it is a rodent.
Good Luck

Answer 7

Sounds like you are getting sewer odors. Have the plumbing checked, specifically where a P-trap is involved. The P-Trap (the sideways S looking thing on drains and toilets) traps water so that sewer vapors will not vent into the home. Your drain system has to be vented but they usually do that via a pipe through the roof. If it is a new house, someone forgot something. You do need to get this taken care of asap.

Answer 8

Sewer gas means either an open/missing P-trap (u-shaped pipe directly under a drain - look under the bathroom sink) or improper sewer venting.

Run water in all fixtures in the bathroom. Toilet has a P-trap built into the bowl, but the sink, tub and/or shower will all have their own. Run the water for a few seconds in each fixture to refill the traps. If there's no water in the P-trap, sewer gas will escape. This is a common problem with infrequently used fixtures or bathrooms.

Likewise, if a chunk of pipe is missing (can happen!) or broken, sewer gas will escape.

Individual Fixtures:
- Inspect underneath all fixtures for a P-trap. Given a new house, it's likely only the constructor's plumbing company has worked on it and it has been inspected by local building authorities, but double-check anyway. This may require you open a ceiling to check for a trap under the tub - hey, just remember that it took explosives to build the Hoover Dam.

- Divide and conquer. If there's water in the P-trap under the sink, it's not the sink. If there's water in the P-trap under the tub/shower, it's not the tub or shower. If all P-traps have water in them, it's a systemic problem, not an individual fixture.

- Ensure the toilet bowl isn't leaking where it meets the floor. The flange (on the floor) should be 1/2" proud of the finished floor to ensure correct compression of the wax ring (which you will need to replace once you've had the toilet off).

Systemic:
- Ensure DWV (drain-waste-vent) venting is up to code - proper tie in with vent stack to roof, etc. This is a plumbing vent, not your bathroom fan. If venting isn't working, sewer gas may bubble through any of the P-traps in that room - or even elsewhere in the house!

- Check for venting blockage by shining light into sink drain to look for the water in the P-trap. Flush the toilet. If the water moves when flushed, you have bad venting. Check for obstructions to the sewage vent on the roof.

Last Resort:
Finally, call a *licensed* plumber and tell him the problem. In many jurisdictions, a construction defect will give you remedies under your locale's new home warranty program.

Answer 9

How new is new and how long since you have moved there?
Big difference between 1 week and 1 year.
My house is 5 years old and after we lived there about a year we had a rotten egg type odor from the bathroom. It took some time but we narrowed it down to one of the bathroom sinks. ( there are two ) MINE to be exact. It seems that the drain had hair in it and in warmer weather was growing some kind of bacteria that smelled really bad! I took out the hair I could reach, poured drano in the sink and the problem was gone. Now I just pour a bottle of rubbing alcohol down that drain once a month or so to kill the bacteria. I haven't had a problem since.
Give it a try. Good luck.

Answer 10

I am not a plumber but had a similar odor issue it sounds like. My issue had to do with improper ventilation in the plumbing allowing sewer smell into the house.