There is a foul urine stench in bathroom of house I just bought. "In the pipes".. no one has found solution.

Question

Plumbers, house inspectors, handymen, mold inspector, etc-- all stumped. The room is sealed off - deodorizers, drain cleaners, hot water, lysol, bleach, all tried, no luck. Please help me.

Answer 1

Pull the toilet, the wax seal is probably bad.  

Answer 2

Sounds like the water is draining directly in to the sewer system without a 'U' tube fitting.

Look under the wash basin and you (should) see the tubes follow a 'U' shape.  The lower half of the 'U' will always have water in it. This stops any foul air coming back up from the sewer.

Its a good idea to get them fitted even if you can stand the smell. Those gasses can carry infection and, more likely, explosive gasses.

Answer 3

Are you on well water? Do you have an electric hot water heater? Does this bath have a venting system that is always on? Have you tried taping shut all the openings to the plumbing? Are there ducts that connect other places? How old is the house? Trying to envision...

Answer 4

I agree with lady tazz. Try a product that eliminates pet urine smell. It works. Other wise you will have to replace the floor including all the wood underlayment.

Answer 5

It could be a urine soaked floor.  We had the same problem in a house we bought.  The previous owners had little boys and I think they missed the toilet a LOT.  We ended up pulling the floor up, replacing the wood sub-floor and putting tile down.  That solved the problem.  If you can't do all that right now, I would pour white vinegar all around the bottom of the toilet....or pull the toilet and replace the wax ring (about $5.00), clean the floor with bleach, before setting it back in place.  Make sure you clean the bottom of the toilet good too before you reset it.  The smell is gross, so I feel sorry for you.  Good luck and I hope this helps.

Answer 6

If there is any wood around on a floor get down and smell it.  Heat it with a hair dryer and apply bleach if it comes from there.  Also try to see if the bathroom floor is the original one or if it is one that has been build over the first.  

Sometimes to save the money involved with ripping out the old  floor they just build over the original floor putting in the new pipes on the old one and then they cover it up with the new one.

My point is that if they did that in the bathroom you are asking about it may be that the original floor was ruined by urine seepage over a long time.  If that is true then you have to get at the old wood and treat it.

You might try asking an old timer who may have personal experience with these things.   Good Luck

Good Luck