We have a 2 yr old house, for about the last 2 months there has been a terrible mildew smell in one of the bathrooms. The bathroom is used on a daily basis...We have taken everything out of there 3 times now and scrubbed it down with bleach/cleaner, replaced shower curtain, rugs,towels,etc.. It seems to be fine until the next time someone takes a shower then the smell is back...I have tried to sniff it out everywhere the only place particularly that I can smell it is in the tub like its coming out of the faucet??? Not sure if this is related or not, but at about the same time our washing machine started leaking water out of the bottom (2 yrs old) not alot, but enough to notice in the overflow pan and it had seaped through the baseboard in the bedroom behind the laundry room and water stained the baseboard..Bought a brand new washer last week and it is doing the same thing...Could these two be related?? Any suggestions? Thansks.

speedball1

There could be mold growing inside your walls from the washer leak. Is the washer near the bathroom? Try this tonight pour 1/2 gallon of bleach down the shower drain and let it set over night. Next morning flush it out with a few large pans of boiling water. If that don't get it I have more ideas. Tom

rpeters

You are saying to put the bleach down the tub drain???? I have smelled down in there and it seems to be fine...the smell is coming more out of the tub faucet!!! The laundry room and bathroom are right across the hall from each other....Could I put the bleach down the washer drain and flush that with hot water as well...I'm just concerned since the new washer is still leaking that there is some type of clog in that drain that is causing the water to back into the overflow pan and like you said possibly that water sitting in the clogged drain could be molded???? Would the water for the shower/tub be passing through the same pipe as the washer drain water??? I am going to try the bleach tonight, but just wondering if I could do it in washer drain also??? Might be best to have someone come out and actually see if that drain from the washer is actually clogged or not??? I poured liquid plumber in it the other night and then flushed it with hot water....Thanks for any suggestions!

speedball1

So the bad smell's coming from the faucet? I have a suggestion. You also might consider this, Certain types of bacteria can react with the magnesium anode rod resulting in a musty odor. Clean the tank using chlorine bleach and changing the water heater anode rod to aluminum usually will solve the problem. Hope this solves your problem. Tom