If you just got home and noticed your house has a sewer gas smell. Or if your house starts to smell like a sewer, we’re here to help. There are 3 common reasons why you could have a sewer smell in your home or bathroom:
1. P-Trap is Malfunctioning
In the bottom of your sink, toilet, and shower, the drain has a bend specifically designed to hold water. This is called a P-Trap, and they are also installed in sinks and toilets. The P Trap should be holding water at all times, allowing water to continually pass through while stopping sewer gasses from coming up and entering your bathroom. If you don’t use the drain often, the PTrap can dry out and allow gases from the sewer to enter your bathroom. By adding water back into the P Trap the gasses will subside. This is especially common in the winter months when the air is dry, water sitting in P traps will dry up, and smells from the sewer will come up through the drain. Create a routine to run water through all of your sinks and drains, to help keep the P traps full of water, this will keep the sewer odors in the sewer where they belong.
2. Drain is Backed-Up with Sewage
It is possible that the sewer could be backed up in your shower drain. To check that this is not the case, use a flashlight and shine it down into the drain of your shower. You can also run the water to make sure that everything is draining properly.
3. Clean-Out Cap is Malfunctioning
The clean-out cap can be found in a number of locations in and or around your house. this can create an area where sewer gasses come into your home. When this happens, the smell can be tricky to locate. Inspect all of the cleanout locations to ensure that nothing has come loose.