Most buildings hold residents’ meetings regularly. The thing is only apartment owners have access to the meetings. What you can do is raise the issue with your landlord (I assume you’re renting) and have the landlord speak on your behalf at the next meeting. Alternatively, your landlord can write a statement saying that you’re representing him at the next meeting and you can raise the issue at the meeting. Yep, all it takes is the installation of fans on the roof at the top of the pipe shafts to suck out the odor. They have to be on 24/7 though to be effective.
Thanks for the reply, Incubus! Great to hear “all it takes is the installation of fans on the roof at the top of the pipe shafts to suck out the odor. They have to be on 24/7 though to be effective.”
While I’m not owner, my in-laws are and my sis-in-law owns another apartment in same building is head of the building resident association or whatever it’s called so we do have communications with them. The bad news is that is a painfully slow process in terms of getting action and results. The mold issue was raised months ago. The bigger broader issue of odors including pooh stench of neighbors is now years old. But if the fans on roof will solve and cost is not crazy high I’m confident we could get them installed one way or another!
So main thing is find someone who knows enough to help and make sure they are installed on correct vents, have proper power/capacity, etc.
The smells will enter your apartment from many varied routes!
Things you can start with internally;
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Check all your drains actually have u-traps in them and then install drain covers with sprung flaps in them which allow water to flow down and help stop odours from flowing up. For floor drains that don’t see much use, regularly pour a bottle of water down them to ensure there in actually water in the trap bend
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With all your aircons units in the false ceiling also install u-traps in their drain pipes
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Tape up overflows in your sink, bathtub etc., obviously make sure they also have u-traps and there is water in them.
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The shared airshafts are usually in kitchens and bathrooms. If you have the ability to exhaust air to outside through a window or even coring a vent hole in the exterior wall, do that and then completely block the shared vent in the bathroom and/or kitchen. If you cannot then consider installing fans on the shared vent to force air into the vent, depending on how good your windows and doors are you may need to allow air into your apartment from an additional vent or cracked window to avoid creating too much negative pressure and sucking the smelly air in through another entry point.
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Consider getting rid of the central air system and installing on the wall split units. The central air is very difficult to clean properly and the duct work is a mold magnet plus it has to pull air up into the false ceiling cavity, again risking sucking air from shared vents/drains into your apartment.
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The mold smell outside your apartment in the building basement you’re pretty much going to have to live with or just move, forget about it being solved in an eleven year old building. If you can get obvious leak points fixed you’ve done well.
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There is your solution.
Anyways, you could also start for now with leaving your windows open for a bit all day and night so you have natural ventilation.
Yes like we say have been pursuing with building officials and very slow. They just had office manager resign and the new one is useless.
And yes good point re: windows. Alas, we already have been leaving windows open as much as tolerable (heat and noise); always open in bathroom, too.
Great input, SuperS54!
Already pursued #1 and #3 long long ago. We’ve also started to think about #5… But #2, Aircon drain pipe u-traps – did not think of that – will check! Not sure if #4 is feasible (afraid some of the odor is coming through leaks in unusual places vs. backdraft of any of our exhaust vents), but will give that more thought also.
#6 is quite disconcerting 
But – if we get rid of all other odors and the roof fan sucks away most mold smell too, then we may be ok with windows cracked etc. (Just need to leave windows cracked when we are away for a few days too and hope no typhoon…)
Again, many thanks! Most helpful.
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Update: The building management had a couple of contractors look at roof vents and are supposed to give quotes for installing exhaust fan(s). They say the vents have some turns (not straight vertical) and thus are skeptical the fan will help and seem reluctant to even bid a quote (grrr). Is anybody able to explain why turns in vents would be such a drastic impact on exhaust fan effectiveness? When I drink from a bent straw or my kids drink from silly straws with tons of loops, the liquid all makes its way to mouths just fine. Not sure why fan on air vents would be much different…
Also: Contractors say the bathroom vents are the only ones that can/should get exhaust fan. (There are some additional roof vents. I believe one is for something to do with emergency exhaust in case of fire and I’m told we can’t touch that (though I wonder if some of the stink is in that vent!); another vent too; uncertain if it is another air duct near elevator or what.
If anyone knows an expert for odor issues in buildings, let me know. Any other advice most welcome as well.
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A building I lived in installed fans on the roof to try to deal with odor in shared vents problems, did squat. Perhaps the installers see some other issue and know the fans won’t solve the problem so don’t want to get involved. Seems very ethical behavior…
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Yes, we’ve been getting sense you’re right re: “Perhaps the installers see some other issue.” One contractor seemed to say as much through a third party, though was not too explicit about details. Sigh. Thanks for your input even if not what I want to hear.
I love the smell of food and feces in the morning…smells like…Taiwan.
(2375) I Love The Smell Of Napalm In The Morning ::: Apocalypse Now - YouTube
:(( Food is one thing, but(t) …
It will happen eventually. Taiwan will advance to the point of considering such bad stinky stuff and toxic mold no longer normal/acceptable (and hopefully do more to address noise pollution too). I just wish it happened already.
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Incubus/all, regarding fans running 24/7 – contractor says fans need a rest and wants to run motor 45 minutes then rest 15 minutes vs run every minute of every hour. What do you think?
(Again, wish I could find an expert on such matters in Taipei.)
He’s talking about installing cheaper fans which need their “rest time” and/or undersized fans. Fans to an industrial spec. standard are needed and should be properly sized for the job.
Do you turn your air-conditioner off every 45 mins to give the fan a rest?!
Get a price for both types of fan and see how big the difference is, if very large go with the cheaper one (assuming the same throughput) as proof of concept and if it actually works and gets rid of the odor, upgrade to a proper fan later.
Can you get a timer on your fan? As someone who grew up in a place that got very cold in the winter, I appreciated being able to set the bathroom fan for the max of 1 hour, which gave the bathroom enough time to suck all the moisture out of the room while showering and after, but we didn’t need to remember to turn it off (if we didn’t turn it off, in this case, all the hot air from the rest of the house would be sucked up and outside). I would imagine in this day and age, there would be a way to install a timer that shuts the fan off every 45 min “to let the fan rest for 15” before turning it back on. It would be no different than a thermostat, etc.
Taiwanese exhaust fans can be crap – I’ve been in two apartments that had a bathroom mold problem that I tried to solve by running the fan 24/7. In both of those units, the fan burned out within a few months. It’s possible that’s what the contractor was saying.
I solve it by always having 可立潔 (Kleen J)'s anti mould spray. Gets rid of it and it stays gone for at least half a year. You are not gonna get rid of it by only drying your house.
可立潔 去霉達人
No scrubbing. Spray and set, then forget.
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Given that the mold odor is throughout building now I’m not so confident about a spray bottle. Sigh.
I’m talking about a fan on the roof of the multistory building for all apartments. The bathroom fan alone won’t solve the issues we are having (and we have been running it as often as 24/7 on occasion, to no avail; the odor comes from elsewhere not from our bathroom)
We will again ask about industrial fan alternative, but initial response was all fans need rest that’s the way it is (which reminds me of the response that odor is normal get used to it etc.).
Another contractor proposes a “solar fan” which supposedly runs constantly (but I believe less powerful…and what happens if we have a few days with no sun?!) Anyone know how solar powered ventilation fans compare to traditional fans for a building >10 stories? Also the solar guy says will use steel to attach to roof, while the traditional electric fan (that needs breaks) will hire subcontractor to use cement to attach/seal the fan. Anyone have knowledge about these two options and which is best (and why)?
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Well… That’s for @nz who has mould in his flat.
If you need to get away from it, then you should consider a newer building.
Yeah… Except we want to be near mother-in-law in the same building (who apparently can’t smell and also her apt. doesn’t have much issue vs. ours), etc. So trying to fix before we give up and deal with big hassle of finding another place.
I do hope your solution will help @nz at least!