Smell coming from bathtub drain, especially after usage
For several months now we have been observing a musty smell in our upstairs bathroom. This smells comes and goes and at times it is much stronger. It seems that after someone takes a shower it gets worse afterwards. The tub is not clogged and there do not appear to be any leaks visible on the second floor or the floor immediately below the bathroom.
Last night I removed the tub overflow and removed a little hair, nothing major. I closed the drain and filled the tub above the overflow. (I covered the overflow with my hand so that the water level went halfway above the overflow hole. Overflow not clogged however, when the tub faucet is on full blast the overflow appears to drain the water at a slower rate than the faucet can fill it. Stuck wire hanger and it seems to go freely. Nothing came up. After we let the water drain, last night and this morning the smell was much worse. In fact it was the worse we ever experienced. I am going to list all the things I know below. Please help us fix this.
- House is 12 years old and we have lived there for the last 8 years.
- No smell in the bathroom for the first 7.5 years. We have been observing smell for the last 4 - 5 months.
- 2 full bathrooms upstairs and one full bathroom downstairs. Other than the bathroom in question no smells present in any of the other bathrooms.
- The bathroom in question is on the second floor and far end of the house (furthest from street and sewer).
- We live in central NJ and have public water and sewer.
- The smelly bathroom also has a double sink and the drains from those sinks do not appear to smell.
- There is no trap door in room adjacent to this bathroom for us to check whether there is a properly installed trap. However, considering that there was no smell for the prior 7.5 years it is a fair assumption that there are traps.
- Smell comes and goes but becomes stronger after the tub has been used.
- No construction or change has been done anywhere near this bathroom, except that the toilet was replaced 2 years ago.
- No clogs or smells in any of the other bathrooms in the house.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks.