We have a walk-in shower in our apartmentwhich is emitting a smell They have come and cleaned it out and said it is fine, but we see water still sitting in the
Drain. Once we turn on the water to shower, the smell comes up. Have tried
A lot of bleach, baking soda, vinegar, hot water, etc as they suggested. I don't
Think the water should be sitting in the drain like that all the time. We have only
Been here a few months. I think there is something wrong still with that water
Stll sitting there. I wonder if the pipe underneath is not aligned properly so this
Water doesn't drain off or if there is a problem further down. We do have sewers
And this smell reminds me of that and it is still backing up somewhere.

Thanks for any help or if there is something else we could pour down the
Drain to help.

Hi Bella

The water you see standing in the drain is supposed to be there... it is in a PTRAP that uses that standing water to keep sewer gasses from entering the home.

With that being said, as much as these ptraps keep sewer gasses out of the home, a blocked vent or a partially clogged drain can cause issues that allow sewer gasses to "burp" into the home... something I suspect may be happening in your case.

Try this: Flush the toilet and run water down the sink while having someone watch the water in the shower drain. If water bubbles/burps at the shower drain then you have a partially clogged drain/vent and that will need to be cleared to resolve the issue.

Let us know what happens, OK?

Mark

Hi Bella

The water you see standing in the drain is supposed to be there...it is in a PTRAP that uses that standing water to keep sewer gasses from entering the home.

With that being said, as much as these ptraps keep sewer gasses out of the home, a blocked vent or a partially clogged drain can cause issues that allow sewer gasses to "burp" into the home...something I suspect may be happening in your case.

Try this: Flush the toilet and run water down the sink while having someone watch the water in the shower drain. If water bubbles/burps at the shower drain then you have a partially clogged drain/vent and that will need to be cleared to resolve the issue.

Let us know what happens, OK?

Mark

Mark, I saw the water in drain move up and down. Where is this vent that could be clogged? My wife thinks they only worked in the shower drain itself. Could it be the clean-out plug I think is outside the apartment in the ground or is there another location that should be checked? We still have the problem even though we have tried bleach, vinegar, baking soda, etc. I'm glad that the water is supposed to be there to prevent the sewer gases from coming up or we would really have a mess! Appreciate you telling me that the water should be there.
Let me know if you have other suggestion(s) or where else that vent may be. Perhaps they didn't think of that. They were here a fairly long time.

John

John,
Is your shower base made of fiberglass, acrylic, molded stone or tile...

Tile.

Tiled shower floors are installed on a bed of cement that has been poured in a sump area created by the surrounding walls and saddle or threshold. This sump area is lined with a water proof membrane ( sheet lead was used in the old days ), typically sheet rubber or vinyl. The purpose of this liner is to collect, and direct water into the shower drain, if the water gets beneath the tile ( via a crack or open grout joint ) and cement during a shower.
The liner must be installed on a pitched subfloor so that any water that gets into the pan will move towards the drain, and prevent pooling of water and organic material ( soap scum, hair, skin, etc. ) When pooling occurs below the cement, the water and organic material will fester & breakdown, producing offensive odors.

Hi John

If you have a tile floor that has efflorescence (basically, a migration or precipitate of soluble salts) and/or mold or an area of the floor that almost never dries up (grout cracking, etc.) then it certainly is a possibility that this can contribute an odor to the room as suggested by Mike... although not usually a "sewer smell".

Otherwise, if the tile floor looks clean and has no visible issues then you want to look at snaking the sink drain (as some states allow the sink vent to vent the shower), or you may need to go into the attic space and check out the piping up there... any pipe near the shower that goes up to the attic is the shower vent (unless shower is vented by the sink vent) and that may be clogged (or partially clogged).

The pipe out front is a main drain cleanout and will not be helful here.

How does the sink drain?

Back to you...

Mark

Hello everyone,

I am not sure if they snaked the sink drain or not. My wife doesn't think they did. Oddly
Enough, we have two sinks in our master bathroom. We get the smell from one sink,
But not the other. Both appear to drain well. And, of course, the smell from the shower.
With both the one sink and the shower, the smell only occurs when the water is turned
On to shower or use the sink. It does dissipate after awhile, but it is not a real long time.
I notice it when I am in the shower. I can smell it come up the drain. My wife's nose is
More sensitive than mine and she smells it out in the rest of the apartment for a bit of time.

The sink drain that smells may be acting as the vent for the shower...

Have the smelly sink drain snaked to clear it... should improve issue at shower as well.

Tiled shower floors are installed on a bed of cement that has been poured in a sump area created by the surrounding walls and saddle or threshold. This sump area is lined with a water proof membrane ( sheet lead was used in the old days ), typically sheet rubber or vinyl. The purpose of this liner is to collect, and direct water into the shower drain, if the water gets beneath the tile ( via a crack or open grout joint ) and cement during a shower.
The liner must be installed on a pitched subfloor so that any water that gets into the pan will move towards the drain, and prevent pooling of water and organic material ( soap scum, hair, skin, etc. ) When pooling occurs below the cement, the water and organic material will fester & breakdown, producing offensive odors.

Mike, They are coming back to see the area Monday. Underneath the marble
Step into the shower stall I noticed is all exposed. There is a a gap along the
Entire underneath area where the tile stops and the marble piece starts. I can
Feel air coming out of this gap. It looks like some of it was grouted at one time,
But much of it is gone. The floor itself is "warped". Shower stall doesn't drain.
We have to squeegee it into the drain after every shower. Not sure what problems that is causing and what the bed looks like under the tile floor. I hope they used a liner. In a house we owned, our shower had to be redone and we
Found out there was no liner under the floor.

Will keep you posted.

Hi John

If you have a tile floor that has efflorescence (basically, a migration or precipitate of soluble salts) and/or mold or an area of the floor that almost never dries up (grout cracking, etc.) then it certainly is a possibility that this can contribute an odor to the room as suggested by Mike...although not usually a "sewer smell".

Otherwise, if the tile floor looks clean and has no visible issues then you want to look at snaking the sink drain (as some states allow the sink vent to vent the shower), or you may need to go into the attic space and check out the piping up there...any pipe near the shower that goes up to the attic is the shower vent (unless shower is vented by the sink vent) and that may be clogged (or partially clogged).

The pipe out front is a main drain cleanout and will not be helful here.

How does the sink drain?

Back to you...

Mark

They came in and re-grouted underneath the marble step. There was a long
Gap between the step and where the tile came up to it. Apparently, it had not
Been grouted in a very long time. I could feel air coming from the gap and the
Smell as well. So far this week, there is no smell from the drain or where they
Re-grouted.

The floor itself was not pitched properly and we have to squeegee water into
The drain to keep the floor itself dry. They won't do anything about that at this
Point. I just hope that a liner is under that floor. In our old house, the floor in
The shower had to be pulled up due to some water damage and found that
A liner was never installed.

But so far, so good.

Thanks to both of you for assisting me.

John