# Musty smell in bathroom



## JoeArbona

I'm new to the diy forum. Hopefully I'm going about posting a question the correct way. 

When I walk into the bathroom in the morning the smell of mildew is prevalent. We keep the bathroom doors closed at night so the smell just builds up 

I am pretty sure the smell is coming from shower. I smelled the sink and hot tup drains and they had no smell I could detect. When I smelled the shower drain, however, I could detect the smell of mildew. 

I mixed a quart of water and chlorox (10:1 ratio) and slowly poured it down the drain. The next morning the smell was less noticeable but it was back by day two. 

Any suggestions? (The house is 20 years old and we keep it in good condition.)

Joe


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## del schisler

JoeArbona said:


> I'm new to the diy forum. Hopefully I'm going about posting a question the correct way.
> 
> When I walk into the bathroom in the morning the smell of mildew is prevalent. We keep the bathroom doors closed at night so the smell just builds up
> 
> I am pretty sure the smell is coming from shower. I smelled the sink and hot tup drains and they had no smell I could detect. When I smelled the shower drain, however, I could detect the smell of mildew.
> 
> I mixed a quart of water and chlorox (10:1 ratio) and slowly poured it down the drain. The next morning the smell was less noticeable but it was back by day two.
> 
> Any suggestions? (The house is 20 years old and we keep it in good condition.)
> 
> Joe


Something to thank about when pouring slow you aren't getting the solution to fill up the pipe so you are only getting the bottom of the pipe?? What i would do if mix up a gal and pour it fast in the drain so that it fill's the pipe up good that may get to the pipe that didn't get it with the quart poured in slow??


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## Jessidog

About a week ago, my wife complained about an odor in the room with the shower and toilet in the master bath. I have a very poor sense of smell and did not notice anything. She was convinced that it was coming from the shower drain. I posted the question on this forum and several replies said it was likely the tile since it has a tile floor. I assume over time water works its way past the grout lines and this leads to an odor. I had future plans to retile the shower which I thought would now get moved up on the timeline. In the meantime, I poured a full bottle of fresh bleach down the drain and then flushed with water about 30 minutes later. Now my wife tells me the odor is gone.

This was my experience; your mileage may vary.

David


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## del schisler

Jessidog said:


> About a week ago, my wife complained about an odor in the room with the shower and toilet in the master bath. I have a very poor sense of smell and did not notice anything. She was convinced that it was coming from the shower drain. I posted the question on this forum and several replies said it was likely the tile since it has a tile floor. I assume over time water works its way past the grout lines and this leads to an odor. I had future plans to retile the shower which I thought would now get moved up on the timeline. In the meantime, I poured a full bottle of fresh bleach down the drain and then flushed with water about 30 minutes later. Now my wife tells me the odor is gone.
> 
> This was my experience; your mileage may vary.
> 
> David


I doubt that water get's under the tile. Could be but If the grout lines look fine i bet it isn't that. I have had mine over 20 yrs and no smell. Like you said millage may very. What you mite look at is the vent stack on top of the house that is the vent for the pipe's . Make sure it isn't plug like wasp nest??


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## jklingel

had the same problem. snaked the shower drain, then ran a bottle brush as far as i could, followed by a half gallon of dilute bleach. gone. btw: bleach over 10% is generally a waste of bleach.


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## Bud Cline

> Something to thank about when pouring slow you aren't getting the solution to fill up the pipe so you are only getting the bottom of the pipe??


Say what??? Every day here is a new chuckle in my life. That one is pretty good!!:thumbup:



> I doubt that water get's under the tile.


So's this one! hehehe
I can promise you the water DOES get below the tile, it always does.


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## creeper

My sink had stink....I had good results with, half box of baking soda, followed by repeated sloshes of vinegar...fun to watch your mini volcano


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## Blondesense

Last year I re-tiled my shower. When I pulled out the old shower walls I found a lot of moldy greenboard behind the tile. 
I also found moldy plywood under the toilet when the wax ring failed.

Do you have a properly sized vent fan and use it religiously when (and after) showering?

Your problem isn't necessarily the drains.

Edited to add: Are you the original owners and/or do you know how the shower was built or put in? Tile? Fiberglass?
While there is more than one way to build a shower correctly, there are many more ways to do it wrong and it is possible you have mold issues in or behind the shower.


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## del schisler

Bud Cline said:


> Say what??? Every day here is a new chuckle in my life. That one is pretty good!!:thumbup:
> 
> 
> So's this one! hehehe
> I can promise you the water DOES get below the tile, it always does.


I like to humer the PRO's here. I guess most have the answer and don't post it ?? I guess a poor job but i guess after 23 yrs and still good at my place. Must have done it right ??


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## rubberhead

Strong smells shouldn't be coming up from the drains. The shower should have a trap which prevents sewer gas from backing up into the bathroom. I've ripped out a few tile showers and more often than not they have water problems. Not to say that this is the case, but I wouldn't assume it is the drain. If the bathroom has any exterior walls it might be worth pulling off a baseboard to see if there is any leaks from outside, also, check inside the vanity and surrounding wet areas to see if a leak as developed elsewhere. Just my two cents, but I don't think the smell is coming from the drain.

edit: What kind of flooring in the bathroom?


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## creeper

The original poster said he distinctly smelled mildew, not sewer. He also said coming from the shower drain. I can't expain it, but I've experienced it. Bleach cuts it for a day or two then it comes back. Its as if a glob of something is growing on the inside of the pipe. ( No mental-eye rolls please Bud), As I said I don't understand the mechanics of it, however, the baking soda and vinegar treatment worked for me. (May need mutiple treatments)


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## ehoez

i have the same odd problem too..


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## slimm34

Hello, did you think the smell in your bathroom smells like sewage???? Do you have a shower door on your bathroom. I found out with the odor in my bathroom FOR YEARS, is the glass doors. Mold growing all around it and I clean my bathroom often. Water gets down between the rubber on door and glass. So if it is a glass door, smell around the bottom of your door, if you don't have a door, sorry I couldn't help you.


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## shaky

slimm34 said:


> Hello, did you think the smell in your bathroom smells like sewage???? Do you have a shower door on your bathroom. I found out with the odor in my bathroom FOR YEARS, is the glass doors. Mold growing all around it and I clean my bathroom often. Water gets down between the rubber on door and glass. So if it is a glass door, smell around the bottom of your door, if you don't have a door, sorry I couldn't help you.


I have been trying to solve the mystery of the musty shower smell in my bathroom for weeks. I truly thought I had tried everything, but decided to search the net one more time for a new idea. 

Upon smelling the bottom of our glass door I believe I have finally discovered the musty smell that I thought was coming from the shower drain. I have taken apart the splash guard and scrubbed all of the nasty soap scum/hair/??? that was caked under the rubber and gaps in the metal. The hair especially smelled awful. To think all this time I was just temporarily masking the scent by scrubbing the drain pipe with strong cleaning agents. 

Thank you so much for the advice! I am beyond excited that this riddle may finally be solved!


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## smithjessica

********illegal post!**********
India spammer!!!!!! Go away and die in a hole!!!!


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## smithjessica

********illegal post!**********
India spammer!!!!!! Go away and die in a hole!!!!


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## DangerMouse

jessicasmith said:


> ****illegal post!**********


Don't you spammers from India EVER get tired of bothering us? Any fool can easily find out that you are copy/pasting information from OTHER websites and posting that information here. This is plagiarizing and is illegal!!! Please stop doing this, go get an HONEST job! Go away!!! Go away!!! Go away!!!

DM


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## kolsen

Are you sure it isn't mold?


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## Thurman

IF anyone thinks water will not get underneath ceramic tile and/or the grout, come help me finish this job I'm currently working on. The floor of this bath looked to be just fine but there was the well known "smell" in the bath room. One trip under the house showed me that there was hardly any wooden flooring left. This was an older house where they used to use 1 x 6's placed on a bias (45º) for the entire flooring of the house before putting up any wall. Two of the joist had over 50% of damage to the area between the tub and toilet. Once the ceramic tile was removed from the floor it was evident where the smell was coming from--rotted wood due to a leak which turned out to be the toilet. It appears to me that the strength of the floor recently was in the grout and tile, not the actual wood sub-floor.


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