I’ve stayed in two places so far, one when I first arrived, and now my new place, and there is the same issue in both: a terrible smell (sewage?) rising up from the bathroom toilet. My first place was on the 7th floor, this one is on the 2nd floor - so it doesn’t seem to be related to location in apartment building.
The smell is not constant. In the old place it just appeared one day, lasted about two weeks, then went away. I figured maybe there was a plumbing issue and they fixed it, but it was atrocious while it lasted.
In my new place the story is similar but different. I don’t remember noticing anything when I first arrived and definitely not when I was actually viewing the apartment. But then about a week or two into living here it started, the most awful sewage smell. And in this apartment it comes and goes. I never know when it will start or finish. It can linger seemingly all day or just for hours. I need to keep the bathroom door closed at all times or the smell will permeate my entire apartment.
I actually went to the lengths of buying distilled white vinegar and vigorously cleaning out everything in the bathroom, including the shower drain which appears to have never been cleaned and was literally loaded with black gunk - I just to make sure there was nothing I myself could do to put a stop the smell. Hasn’t made a difference.
I have a few questions related to this I’m hoping someone can answer:
what is it? and what causes it?
is it the landlord’s responsibility to fix this?
and is it even fixable, or is it something related to the plumbing/sewage system of the city?
I’ve already singed a one year contract and paid the two months deposit for this place, but recently when the smell was at its worst, I’ve started to question if I can really live in these conditions - it doesn’t seem anyone should have to! and the place I’m renting is NOT cheap.
Sounds like the plumbing vent pipe may be blocked. The outlet is usually located on the roof, but I’m not sure how they work in apartment buildings.
Plumbing vent pipes supply fresh air to each plumbing fixture in the home, which helps regulate the air pressure and allows the water move. They also serve to expel bathroom odors.
If your toilet bubbles when you flush, it may indicate the lack of air in the plumbing due to a blocked vent pipe.
You should have your landlord take a look at it. If the fault is not within the apartment itself, they will ask the building management to look into the issue.
I usually get this for a couple weeks from my kitchen sink every few months (never in my bathroom, funnily enough). It’s disgusting. Always eat out every meal during those periods. Tell doorman and they just laugh and hand wave it away, like “oh the smell of shit wafting where you eat is just part of old Taiwan’s charm.”
Most likely the lack of a functioning S bend with sufficient depth to hold enough water to act as a smell barrier.
Most apartments are like this. They rely on sufficient draw from a stand pipe at roof level to keep air flowing into the sewage system in your bathroom and kitchen, and then vent to the outside. If that pipe is blocked, or insufficient capacity, or just bad design, then air moves from the drains (ie, the sewer) into your apartment.
It can also be dependent on fluctuations in air pressure caused by gusts of wind that can pump air up and down the sewer drain, from your building or elsewhere in the street. Very noticeable during typhoons.
Just cover the floor drain with a large sticker or something. Just unblock it if you need to hose down the floor. Probably the same thing is happening in your shower area as well. Toilets do tend to have a usable S bend built in, but not floor drains and showers.
Try to cover every opening when not using including shower drain, random drains, holes around sink, etc. Even just a piece of thick plastic over the areas. Be creative.
If it’s from the toilet (less likely), just keep the lid down when not in use. It’s more likely from the floor drains, just cover those when not needed.
What @urodacus says and check if there is any gap between toilet and floor. We did seal everything off with silicone and the smell was gone. If it’s not from your toilet good luck talking your neighbors into investigating any leakage in the building.
I thought the toilet but based on some replies here I’m guessing it could be the drain, so I’m going to cover the drain now as a test and see what happens.
I get this in my second bathroom that I use as storage. Every few months need to run the water for a few minutes to refill the S-bend and stop the smells.
Thanks for going so in depth, helps me understand what’s going on. I assumed it must be the toilet. I’m going to cover the floor drain as you suggest and see if that takes care of the issue. The floor drain actually is the shower drain, because the way the bathroom is built there’s no separate shower. and the bathroom floor was flooding when I took a shower, though now that I have cleaned out the drain cover and pipe I think I’ve fixed that.
As you describe it this is normal in apartments here - do you still think it would be worthwhile for me to bring this issue up the landlord?
Interesting. Why exactly did that work? I actually tried pouring lots of hot water (and vinegar) down the floor drain a couple days ago - but that didn’t fix the issue. I wonder if I just didn’t pour enough?
Think I’ll just keep the drain covered now, though, if it turns out that stops the smell.
Why would it not work? Water evaporates slowly if the facilities are not used so I need to refill it every once in a while. I’m not saying this exactly your situation, just a data point for reference.
That is what we have done. Put plastic coverings on the drain. However in our meeting place we did that and still smelled. However after using fans in the bathroom to get more circulation it does not smell anymore. But we have found covering the drains has worked in places we have lived in
