QUESTION: I have been a homeowner for the last five years. We own a 22-year-old bungalow. My laundry room is on the main floor inside the kitchen. Our main washroom is adjacent to the laundry room and we have another bathroom in our master bedroom.
Since last February we have been getting a foul smell inside our master bedroom washroom and laundry whenever the washer is on. We asked a handyman for the reason and he said sometimes when the roof is covered with snow there is a chance that the vent will be closed, which sometime causes this problem.
Once the snow melted we stopped getting this foul smell for a few weeks. But this summer we started getting the smell again whenever we open the tap in the washroom or when the washer is on. I have a feeling that it's getting worse. The last little while the smell is always there in the laundry room even if the washer is not on.
Do you have any idea what the reason for the smell can be? Who will be the right person to detect this problem? If you can give me some advice it will be great.
Thanks. Bindu Menon
ANSWER: Odour detection is sometimes a very difficult thing to assess in a home due to the numerous possibilities. In your case there may be a limited number of causes, making diagnosis much easier. The location of the smell is the key and it should be fairly easy to narrow down the culprit.
Anytime a homeowner detects a bad smell in an area that has plumbing fixtures, the drains are the first suspect area to investigate. Sewer gas emanating from drains can be the source of very foul odours and is likely due to a problem with the drains or vents.
Your handyman is correct that a frozen or blocked vent on the roof is often a cause of such a problem. If the top of the vent becomes blocked by ice, snow, or leaves, the normal exit for noxious vapours may become ineffective. These gasses will still try to escape the vent pipes and may be forced through normally effective traps and drains inside the home. The water in the trap is designed to prevent this gas from permeating the living space, but will not work if the top of the vent piping is plugged.
Problems with plumbing drains are the most likely cause or your issue, but may not be limited to blockage in the vent. Too many times, especially in areas like laundry drains, traps and vents are configured improperly or missing altogether.
This should be easily checked by a licensed plumber who should be able to determine if you have an improper setup that is causing sewer gas to enter your bathroom and laundry area. This is another strong possibility because a lack of proper venting for your laundry drain can cause air to be sucked into the piping through the bathroom sink drain if it is attached to the same pipe. That could explain why you are noticing the smell in the bathroom mainly when you are operating your washer.
The flaw in this theory is that you haven't noticed the odour in the first four years in the home, which makes improper drain configuration less likely. Conversely, this becomes a stronger candidate if you have recently had any plumbing fixture renovations in the adjacent bathroom or kitchen or the laundry has been relocated to the current location from the original one.
When attempting to diagnose a problem that has recently occurred within a home, I first enquire about recent changes or renovations in the home. It's very common to see problems arise after renovations are completed. This is normally because something critical was overlooked by the renovators when systems in the home were modified or removed.
If you have had any recent upgrades to the bathrooms or kitchens, it's likely that the renovators have screwed up previously effective venting from your laundry or sinks. This may also be identified by an experienced plumber but may be harder if the new drain connections are hidden behind wall coverings or cabinets.
Your initial course of action, then, is to have a plumber take a look at your existing drains and roof vents, and pull out the washer to look for blockage.
The second possibility for the smell is less common, but would answer why it's now more constant rather than intermittent. Many homeowners connect dryers to low-quality plastic or flexible aluminum-foil vents. These thin pipes are often very problematic due to the same properties that make them easy to install. To allow easy installation and flexibility, these ducts have very thin walls that are easily punctured. Also, to make their thin walls more rigid, metal ribs are embedded which have a tendency to collect dryer lint like a magnet.
This lint will constantly become damp from the warm, moist air pumped out of the dryer. If the volume becomes excessive and blocks the vent, it can become mouldy and will smell. Even worse is the possibility that pests such as insects or mice can enter these partially blocked pipes if the vent hood at the exterior is damaged or forced partially open by debris. If a dead mouse or wasp nest is trapped inside the dryer-vent pipe, or inside the home or dryer housing, it will stink.
This should be easily identified by pulling out the dryer, disconnecting the vent and checking the duct from the interior and exterior of the home with a flashlight. If this is the problem, removal and discarding the old duct and replacing it with a solid metal one will prevent a reoccurrence.
Whichever of these two possible causes are responsible for your stinky laundry and bathroom areas, they should be easily rectified. If a licensed plumber can't identify the source of the issue and the dryer vent is found to be in good condition, then further investigation may be necessary, but that's unlikely.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors -- Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca
trainedeye@iname.com
