Hi,

I replaced the toilet wax bowl and secured the toilet. After a few flushes I still have a smell form the shower drain. Can you tell me what I could do next. I guess it's a process of elimination. I will try anything. I spoke to someone and they told me it could be that my trap is not holding water in it. Does it mean it's broke? Should I replace it?

Please help.

Most bad odors in bathroom drains come from rotting hair mixed with grease from the soap. Try this. Remove the two screws holding the strainer. (TIP; put the screws in the soap dish before they get lost down the drain.) Shine a light down there and with a bent coathanger fish out any hair that may be hiding down there. Then pour a 1/2 gal. of bleach down into the trap and let it set over night. Next morning flush the mess down with 2 large pans of boiling water, (this is important). The bleach will dissolve the hair and make it slippery and the boiling water will melt the grease and get the mess out of your drain. Smell better now? Cheers TOM

Thanks. I will try that and let you know the results.

Hi, I called roto rooter last night and the genltleman use this checmical to pour down drain to see if it was hair and stuff stuck in the trap. He told me he tried everything other than smaking it which would cost $365.00 and he didn't think it would work because the water drains perfect. He told me it could be a died animal under the tub that died. I asked him about the vent pipe and he said there is none hooked up to the shower only the toilet and thet was not leaking.

Can you give me some suggestions? Should I call an exterminator? I have two plastic removalble access panels on the side of the tub/jacuzzi shoul I remove it and leave it opened?

Help:confused:

Any animal that may have died in your condo would likely be a mouse or a rat. The mouse odor will be gone in 10 days and the rat 2 weeks. If it is a vent stack the odor will never leave until it is repaired but we don't know if its broken yet. You have problably just the one stack for all the fixtures in the bath.

Hello condo1, if your sure that the odor is not a dead animal, I would recommend a smoke test by a licenced plumber, if there is cleanout on your sewerline outside the building a smoke test would show you if there is a leak on the drainage system in your home, you would be able to see smoke come out of any spot that would be allowing sewer gasses out of a crack, or void. Like beneath the toilet, shower drain, beneath the tub, etc.
If it's a dead animal double up on air freshener for a while.:D Goodluck------Zeke

Next time you smell the odor slowly pour 4 cup of water down the tub drain. If this stops the odor chances are that you have a blocked vent pipe and the trap is being sucked dry. Make note of when the odor returns and what events preceded it, such as flushing the toilet or using lavatory.

The odor of a dead animal wouldn't be coming up through the drain. Rest assured that the tub does have a vent, probably vented back to the lavatory.

To all, thanks for your suggestions. I will call a licensed plumber and have the smoke test done. I will let you know the results.

Thanks