help...my laundry room smells horrible

[caedmyn]

DH thinks the smell is coming from the drain in the floor, but whatever it is, it's awful. I have to keep the laundry room door closed tight or the whole downstairs smells. We have really funky water (it's a rural water district and the water has a very high mineral content and doesn't taste very good, besides making it difficult to get clothes and dishes clean even with a water softner) and DH thinks that's causing the odor. He's a handyman and if he thought there was a way to fix it he'd fix it, so apparent he doesn't think it's fixable. Any suggestions on ways to cover up the odor? Would dumping baking soda down the drain regularly be a bad idea?

[UUMom]

Well, I know someone who had her sink and toilet pipes clogging and backing up into each other. I can't remember what the deal was, but it was not pretty. Maybe your upstairs toilet is water is mingling with the dowstairs floor pipe. I would call a plumber before something terrible comes up.

Unless all the sinks, toilets etc smell the same way, it's probably not just water you are smelling.

[UUMom]

More thoughts...what does it smell like? Could it be mold? Do you have a front loader? I need to clean the inside rubber around the front of my machine frequently or it gets mildewy.

Could there be a dead mouse or mole or something else in there. Little rotting animals stink.

[ShareBear]

Dumping baking soda down the drain might help, and certainly wouldn't hurt anything. You could try putting baking soda down the drain, then following it up with a cup or two of vinegar, poured slowly--then when the fizzing stops, follow it up again with boiling or at least very hot water. The fizzing/hot water supposedly cleans the walls of the drain. Perhaps you already knew about this.