After months, I finally isolated a moldy odor in my bathroom as coming from the hole in the lavatory that is supposed to keep it from overflowing. I know this because I stopped up that hole with a wad of cotton and don't smell the mold. I have put clorox into the overflow hole but it must have run down the middle with out taking out the mold on some sides of it. I can't find a spray apparatus that will work because of the shape of the lavatory--and don't want to experiment with pressurized gadgets because clorox is so hazardous to eyes!. Any suggestions?. I thought about using a liquid drain cleaner and pouring it into the drain, then stopping up the drain so the foam backs up and hopefully fills up the overflow drain path. Is that a good idea? I would probably not be able to rinse that out thoroughly for the same reason I can't spread the clorox all over the surface of the overflow drain.

Many thanks,
Handy Jane

Shut your stopper and dump a bucket of bleach water into the sink until it overflows, keep adding more bleach water. 1:1 mix should do it.

Thanks Ballengerb1.

The only problem is that I used to put diluted clorox water in my lavatory to soak articles of clothing and now a little of the chrome of the drainhole has flaked off the base metal and it looks ugly. From what I read it must have been the clorox that did that. Sort of hesitate to follow your directions --1.1 is a stronger mixture than I used to soak clothing--- but I may have to try it; I hate this smell. Any other ideas? What about the foaming drain stuff?

Thanks again, HJ

I do have a foaming mix that is home made but the problem is in an area that is quite confined. You can certainly give it a try even though I duobt bleach had a bad effect on chrome. Mix 1/2 cup of table salt with a1/2 cup of baking soda, pour into the overflow hole. Now add a cup of vinegar and allow to sit over night. The following day you should pull your stopper and fill the sink with hot water allowing it to continue to overflow for about 5 minutes.