Hiya,

The sink in our small bathroom, on the 5th floor of a 1930's building, stinks. I've used bleach, drano and other suggested cures, but the smell always comes back.

We hardly use the sink, about once a day. We clean the trap regularly, and never find anything stuck there.

The shower next to the sink doesn't smell.

The smell gets stronger when the door is closed and the extractor fan is turned on - which makes me theorise that the fan is pulling the air from somewhere.

I'd be very grateful for your suggestions - the smell leaks out into the bedrooms and is really unpleasant.

Cheers,

Klara

If you have a large fan and a very tight fitting fdoor it is possible that sewer gas is being pulled through the trap even if the trap is working properly. Run the fan with the door ajar, if there is no smell just trim 1/4" off the door.

Hiya,

The extractor fan is quite small - size 100 if that means anything. And the door does have a gap of about a half an inch from the bottom.

Even with the door open it smells, it just gets even stronger with the door closed... and I can't shower with the door open, even if my housemates insist they don't mind :)

Anything else I could do?

There is a slight chance that you have junk growing in the overflow of the sink. Hard to reach but fill the sink to overflowing and then add straight bleach. This will get bleach into the overflow drain but it won't 100% flush the drain but I'd give it a try.