Strange smell in bathroom....

[MamaRBH]

This feels silly to even mention here... but I don't know what else to do.

This smell is strange...I can't even describe it.

I've cleaned the bathroom top to bottom. It's the downstairs half-bath. It's beside the laundry room and the garage. I can't locate the source of the smell. It's not overly strong.....but strong enough that even my DH who rarely notices scents picked up on it, too.

We moved here last year and the house is 7 years old.

Where could the smell be coming from???

[JulieSilk]

Maybe the the wax ring underneath the toilet has dissipated. This has happened to me in the passed. It has a sulfuric smell. You can buy one for less than $10 at your local hardware store, unscrew the toilet bowl and replace it yourself if that's the problem.

Good Luck!

[mothertoall]

a leak? maybe .....check , our toilet had a slow leak that was causing water around the toilet, but not enough to notice...and the wet , toilety smell was very annoying since i would clean and clean and it was stil there.

[AbbottsMomma]

Have you sniffed your shower curtains? Sometimes the bottom edge gets stale from being wet and drying out so many times!

[MamaRBH]

No shower curtains as it's a half bath. I'm going to check for water residue now... the wax ring thought is interesting....will have to address it with DH. There's something about "unscrewing the toilet" that just doesn't seem easy.

[olehippy]

If you don't use that bathroom often the p-trap maybe empty of water causing smells to come back into the room through the pipes.

Run some water in the sink and shower and flush the toilet. I'd let the water run for a minute or so.

[Turquesa]

Since we're all speculating, I thought I'd throw another thought out there. For my parents, the strange smell ended up being dead rodents in their septic system. : (Sarchastic smiley!)

The smell was coming through the pipes, kind of like what PP suggested. If it smells vaguely like a rotting animal corpse, you may want to check whatever plumbing system you have for the source.

[hibana]

Originally Posted by olehippy

If you don't use that bathroom often the p-trap maybe empty of water causing smells to come back into the room through the pipes.

Run some water in the sink and shower and flush the toilet. I'd let the water run for a minute or so.

This. Also, if you have a leak under the toilet, you could be smelling rotting floorboards or sub flooring.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by MamaRBH

No shower curtains as it's a half bath. I'm going to check for water residue now... the wax ring thought is interesting....will have to address it with DH. There's something about "unscrewing the toilet" that just doesn't seem easy.

I've done it. If I can do it, any other idiot can do it. Keep in mind, if you lift up that toilet, you MUST replace the wax ring, so before you do anything, buy one.

[Limabean1975]

How about the sink drain?

Our bathroom sink drain seems to emit smells once in a while. I pour some baking soda down there, follow it with some vinegar, plug it and let it sit for a while, then pour a full kettle of boiling water down there. Usually works.

[MamaRBH]

Okay.... no sign of a leak.

We do use the bathroom daily...

Good idea about the baking soda.... will try that this evening while DH contemplates the wax ring. (I'm a bigger idiot than him, so I'm letting him do it. )

[lightheart]

if you replace the ring under the toilet be sure the water is turned off to the toilet and that it is empty of water.... ask how I know also if you live more than an hour away from a hardware store, buy 2 just to be on the safe side if you mess the first one up.

have you checked the drain/faucets in the laundry to make sure there are no leaks there?