Question: Our guest bathroom has a sewage smell that I just can’t get rid of. Our cleaning service has given the room a super-thorough cleaning three times now, but the smell always comes back in about a week or two.
The guest rooms are upstairs and there is no sign of a leak from the toilet, bidet or shower showing on the ceiling below. Could we have a leaking drainpipe that is causing this odor?
We have guests coming this summer who will have to stay in a hotel if we can’t get rid of this odiferous problem.
Answer: The problem that you are describing is actually fairly common. It is more than likely being caused by odors and gases from your home’s plumbing drain lines venting into the bathroom due to a dry “P” trap or a blocked vent line rather than due to a sewage leak.
In order for any of your sinks, toilets, tubs or appliances to drain properly to the sewer they must have a clear vent line that permits the air that is being displaced by the drainage to escape to the exterior atmosphere through a vent pipe on your roof.
You can see these vent pipes on the outside of your house coming up through the roof, and they are located approximately over the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room.
Vent pipes will extend much higher above the roof in a colder region, so they are not blocked by snow in the winter months.
This venting principle can be demonstrated by placing a straw in a glass of soda, capping the end with your finger and then lifting the straw out of the liquid. The soda stays trapped in the straw until you release your finger, allowing air to rush in and fill the void left by the soda draining out of the straw.
If a plumbing vent to your bathroom is clogged at the roof with leaves, a bird’s nest or by a rust blockage somewhere in the wall, your drain line may be venting sewer gases into the bathroom via another drain line that shares the same roof vent.
Every interior drain in your home has what a plumber calls a “P” trap, which you can see under your bathroom and kitchen sinks, it is shaped like a horizontal letter P that is filled with water and, by design, is a vapor barrier to block sewer gases from venting into your home.
If the water in the P trap in your sink or shower is being siphoned dry due to a clogged vent or a leak in the trap, or if for some reason the P trap was removed, then this is one common way for sewer gases to enter the home.
A house that is vacant for an extended time in a hot, dry desert environment like Palm Springs will often have all the water evaporate dry from the P traps in the home, and the home owner is greeted by a house filled with the smells of the local sewer when returning. This scenario can also happen in a bathroom that is very infrequently used.
Your best bet is to call a plumber to check to make sure the P traps are in good working order and check your vent lines to make sure they are not blocked or obstructed.
• • •
Question: I signed up for a new TV cable service that my grandson recommended and yesterday the installation company arrived in a fancy van to put a satellite dish on my roof.
Before I could stop the young man, he had drilled four holes through our roof and screwed the bracket right on top of the shingles!
My roof was just replaced only a few years ago, and it was a very big expense for me because I am retired. The young man said he does this all the time and that I had no reason to be upset or worried.
Can this be right?
Answer: No, it’s not right. There really is no good reason for an installer of something temporary like a satellite dish to do this type of damage to your new roof.
What if you decide you don’t like the service, switch to cable in six months and the satellite dish is removed? Then you are left with four holes in your roof?
Even with the dish bracket left screwed tightly in place, there is still the possibility of moisture entering the roof if the holes and brackets were not correctly water sealed by the installer.
Your new roof may be designed to last as long as 40 years but your roofing contractor can’t be expected to warranty a future leak or any associated water damage from this type of installation.
Despite what the installer may have told you, the satellite TV companies have several different types of brackets that allow a solid connection to a rafter tail, a fascia board or a post.
I suggest that you call the customer service center for this company, make a written note of who you spoke with, inform them of the problem, and let them know that you expect them to make this right.
You then need to get a written quote from a local roofing contractor to repair the damaged roof and submit a claim to the dish company for the amount of the repair.
Seeing that the roof is relatively new, it probably will not be hard for the roofer to find matching shingles for the repair work, and the patch should not be noticeable at all when completed.
The dish company has insurance to cover this type of problem, so I would be very surprised if they gave you a hard time. They will probably be very cooperative and apologetic.
