# Vent Pipe Stink in house



## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

Since moving in we have been dealing with the stink of vent stack fumes and cannot find the cause. At first it seemed to happen on moist, rainy days, then it was gone for almost all summer, now for the last two weeks, it has been back. Sometimes it actually smells like a dead animal. I have checked neumerous times, under every thing I could move, lift, or look under, I looked in all the flower pots, I removed everything from the linnen closet and both vanitys... nothing. Satisfied that the cats have not hidden anything for me to find I turned my attention to the walls. i got on hands and knees and smelled around the base of every wall....nothing. I smelled the shower drain, both sink drains and even....yuck... the toilet base... not a clue. So I went up on the roof and the stink from the vent pipe almost killed me..lol what i did notice was the pipe sticks up about 12-18 inches from the roof, there is a gable vent maybe 10 feet away, another one on the part of the house the vent pipe is in and its about 5 feet away and then the vent for the bathroon exaughst fan is about 3 feet away.. My thought was wind is carrying the gasses down, around and under the eves and its coming in the vents so i bought a coupling and piece of 3 in. PVC and connected a 4 foot piece to the vent pipe but it did not help. is there anything I could be missing? i dont think its a clog cause the smell rising out is really strong and like I said, its NOT coming from any of the drains.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

It most likely IS a dead animal that needs to be removed.

DM


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## fabrk8r (Feb 12, 2010)

Possible improper trap on tub or other fixture or perhaps no trap at all. 

I've experienced this same problem with older homes where there wasn't a trap installed on bath tubs and the smell only came up through the drains when weather conditions were right.


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

Thanks. All the drains have traps, granted I had to add them. the sinks and shower had no traps at all when we moved in and I thought that was the problem so i added them. but there is no smell coming from the drains or toilet I cannot pin point the source, I'm hoping that someone didn't put a nail through the pipe inside a wall... that would stink, Literally. seriously though, to me it smells more like dead animal than septic gas.. I was wondering ... if an animal got down the vent pipe (3" pipe) could the smell get somehow into the house say, through the pipe and walls?? what also makes it hard to pin point is that 1 minute or two in the house, you dont notice the smell so sniffing around gets pointless.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Can you use a flashlight and see straight down the 3" on the roof?

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

I can but only about 5 feet or so then it turns... I wish it were white pipe, i could go in the attic and shine a flash light through it from one side and see if i see any shadows on the other... unless, knowing the previous owner, there is another vent pipe, cut off and buried in a wall somewhere.. that would be my luck!!! lol


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

You could try running a snake down it (roof vent) and see if you can push the dead critter down the drain, if there is one?

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

YEAH, I MAY HAVE TO TIE A SMALL WEIGHT TO A STRING AND SEE HOW FAR DOWN IT GOES... (opps, caps lock..lol) maybe there is something dead but not clogging it.. or now im thinking, maybe a crack in the pipe somewhere inside the walls or attic?


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## Jackofall1 (Dec 5, 2010)

Use a fish tape on the roof and see if you can push it down the pipe and how far it goes, should go all the way. Might have to wash the fish tape off after though.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

If you smell dead at the pipe on the roof, it surely must be a critter?
I don't see a cracked pipe smelling like a corpse...... like you said, two totally different stinks! Po)

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

lol you'd think so... its crazy. it smells to me like dead animal but then again... who knows! I hope it is though..kinda.. this way it will eventually rot away and the smell will go away and that will be that!


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

You could rent a plumber's camera and snake it down to see for sure.

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

I might have to, Im afraid someone will come over and think we are slobs with dead animals in our walls or worse, we are hiding bodies in the crawlspace...lol I wish someone made a stink detector so I could pin point the source of the smell.. Youd think that with two dogs, one being a **** hound, they would sniff it out for me.. they act like they could care less.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Yeah, bad smells don't seem to bother them.... after all, look how they greet each other....

DM


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## Homerepairguy (Aug 1, 2010)

zacker said:


> I might have to, Im afraid someone will come over and think we are slobs with dead animals in our walls or worse, we are hiding bodies in the crawlspace...lol I wish someone made a stink detector so I could pin point the source of the smell.. Youd think that with two dogs, one being a **** hound, they would sniff it out for me.. they act like they could care less.


Zacker,

It seems this whole discussion is based on the premise that the smell is coming from your roof vent. To verify that, what if you buy some cheap perfume, pour it in a disposable pie plate and put it on your roof on top of the suspect vent. Someone could hold it there to prevent the wind from blowing it off. The plate would block odors coming from the vent and you should then smell the perfume in your home.

If the bad odor is replaced by the perfume smell, then it verifies that the odor is coming from the vent. If not, then you need to look elsewhere for the source of the odor.

HRG


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## braindead (May 31, 2010)

I think this is one time you need a pro. to do a smoke test on your system. If the original owner hooked up things the way you say you can bet there's something not connected.


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

awesome idea!!!! I should try it and if it still smells, I can actually pour the bottle down the pipe itself, this way if the smell is in fact coming from a crack or hole in the pipe somewhere behind a wall, I can tell. I may just try that.


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

i just had another thought.. if I put a cap on the vent pipe (and dont flush or use the system for a couple hrs) and the smell goes away, it would tell me it is coming in from the pipe. if the smell does not go away ill know its broken or something else down the line.


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## ecurb (Nov 20, 2010)

You could take enough water up on the roof to dump into the vent pipe, see if it drains quickly or maybe it will flush out a critter that's in the pipe?


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Now that's just a darn good idea......

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

I think i got it figured out this time. Took a shower last night and when I got out I noticed the stink was back so I thought well, its gotta have something to do with the drains cause when it drains, it stinks..lol so i start sniffing around the drains again but this time i stuck my now clean, just showered head between the (Ewwww) toilet and outside wall and WHEW!!!! there it was!! (the previous owner had not put up the base moulding in the bathroon yet before he sold it) anyhow, so I go into the basement and im looking at the drain pipes.. I see the shower, sink, toilet and the vent.. then realized what i thought was the vent was what looked to be another toilet so I thought let me take a closer look... lol evidentally, this guy, when re doing the bathroom, had moved the toilet, so he cut the drain and supply line below the floor, laid his new floor over it and while he capped off the supply, he left the drain (4" line" wide open!! so the stink is coming up from that pipe right into the bathroom from below. its cut so close to the floor that from the basement it appears to be going through it. there was just enough room to force my finger tips between the pipe and floor to feel that it was totally open. Now, I will cap it off with a fernco cap and hope and pray he ran a new pipe from the new tiolet drain to the roof vent pipe.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Well, it sounds like that's going to fix it, hopefully..... 

I still wonder why the corpse smell though, maybe a mouse crawled in and died?

DM


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

Could very well be, I just hope it goes away!!


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

I'm pretty sure it will.... Po)

DM


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## Homerepairguy (Aug 1, 2010)

zacker said:


> ... lol evidentally, this guy, when re doing the bathroom, had moved the toilet, so he cut the drain and supply line below the floor, laid his new floor over it and while he capped off the supply, he left the drain (4" line" wide open!! so the stink is coming up from that pipe right into the bathroom from below. its cut so close to the floor that from the basement it appears to be going through it. there was just enough room to force my finger tips between the pipe and floor to feel that it was totally open. Now, I will cap it off with a fernco cap and hope and pray he ran a new pipe from the new tiolet drain to the roof vent pipe.


Count your blessings that you never had a clog in the main drain. That cut off pipe, having been a toilet drain, would have overflowed all kinds of "good stuff" all over your basement. Congrats on finding your problem.

HRG


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

Oh man... dont even kid. That would have really messed up the sump pump...lol

Thats the next thing to tackle.. water in the basement from the crawl space that not only floods the basement but brings in mud... after we get a big rain it looks like one of those mud slide videos down there..lol


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

*sigh* 

I know.... it never ends, does it? LOL

DM


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## Homerepairguy (Aug 1, 2010)

zacker said:


> Thats the next thing to tackle.. water in the basement from the crawl space that not only floods the basement but brings in mud... after we get a big rain it looks like one of those mud slide videos down there..lol


Fix that "yesterday" before the wood in the crawl space gets rotted out (if it isn't already). 

The joy of home ownership... 
Sky


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

I know I just cant find the source of the water coming in THAT much... i re did all the gutters with brand new ones. took out the clogged and messed up underground pipes they used to drain into.. ran 4 foot pipes off the down spouts to take the water away from the house... im wondering if there is just a high water table and the water is coming up and then under the door...the problem im facing is that the crawl space is only about 1 foot high to the floor of the hose so I cant get under there.. in the baseent part theres a door leading to the crawl but when you open it, your staring at a wall of earth! lol and thats where the water comes into the basement, from under that door.


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## Homerepairguy (Aug 1, 2010)

zacker said:


> I know I just cant find the source of the water coming in THAT much... i re did all the gutters with brand new ones. took out the clogged and messed up underground pipes they used to drain into.. ran 4 foot pipes off the down spouts to take the water away from the house... im wondering if there is just a high water table and the water is coming up and then under the door...the problem im facing is that the crawl space is only about 1 foot high to the floor of the hose so I cant get under there.. in the baseent part theres a door leading to the crawl but when you open it, your staring at a wall of earth! lol and thats where the water comes into the basement, from under that door.


Sorry for your problem. I would hire a pro if that's what it takes to fix it. The longer it continues, the more it will cost to fix. Water and wood rot waits for no one.

All the best for your project,
HRG


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## zacker (Mar 26, 2010)

...thanks! not to mention the termites and Ants it will attract although I did get it treated for termites just this April so, ....


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