It started with a whiff each time you passed by the bathroom door, then progressed to a pungent odour that hits you in the face each time you enter. At first you just thought it was the kids or the dog but now, they’re at granny’s house and all the Christmas guests have left and you’re left wondering where is that horrible smell coming from . . .

You might think that the bathroom just needs a good clean, after all it has had a good work out over Christmas, but if you’ve cleaned the house and there are still sewage odours in your house it may indicate you have a more significant issue.

Not all sewer odours are serious, there are some normal reasons why you may have sewer odours in parts of your house that are easily solved. First things first you need to diagnose where the source of the sewer smell is.

Dry Water Traps

The first reason you could be noticing a sewer smell in the bathroom has to do with the water in your bathroom’s water trap evaporating. Water traps, sometimes called P-traps or S-traps are the U-shaped pipes underneath your fixtures that are designed to trap water inside the pipe curve and prevent gases and odours from the sewer traveling back up through your drains and into the house.

Water traps will dry out if you rarely use a bathroom, shower, sink or bath. Fortunately, you can resolve this issue quickly. Simply run the fixtures for a few seconds or pour a bucket of water down the drain to restore the water seal.

Food and Organic Buildup

It’s easy for food and other organic materials to accumulate in your drains over time without noticing. However, it’s hard to ignore when they start to decompose and attract bacteria which leads to bad smells.

The most common materials that can buildup and result in partially blocked pipes, leading to smelly drains are:

• Hair

• Toothpaste

• Soap

• Grease

• Food Waste

If you notice, there are smells coming from your sinks or that they are not draining properly, try removing any drain covers or water traps and pulling out as much organic matter as possible. This is not the most pleasant job, but it can help to clear a drain almost immediately.  

If the odour still doesn’t go away shortly after this, another option is by using a combination of bicarb soda, vinegar and boiling water to soften any built-up elements in the drain allowing it to flow naturally.

Sewer Blockages

If you’ve noticed a bad smell coming from multiple locations in your home, this may indicate a broken or blocked pipe, and is often accompanied by loud gurgling noises from your drains.

Best to give us a call and get this one checked out ASAP.

Smelly and blocked drains are common and sometimes even preventable or simple to fix with some simple cleaning measures.

But in other cases, they are beyond our control and can indicate a larger problem that ought to be looked at by a professional.

If you find yourself stuck with a blockage that just won’t budge, don’t worry, Pipe Doctor is just a call away. No matter how big or small, we have 24/7 solutions to ensure that you can have your house or business back up and running as quickly as possible.

When you have a drainage disaster you can count on us to get you back up and running.

“Nuck, Nuck, Pipe Doctor” 1300 747 337

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