Sewage Gas Smell from Laundry Room Drain

LESLIE: Welcome, Lori, to The Money Pit.  How can we help?

LORI: Yes, I have a smell that’s coming from the drain, the laundry room drain.

TOM: Well, if you smell sewage gas, that usually means you have a venting problem.

LESLIE: Do you use this sink often; other than when you’re using the washer?

LORI: No.

TOM: The trap could be drying out; that’s one thing that could be happening. What the trap is is that’s the U-shaped part of the drain pipe that’s usually under the sink. And in a laundry tub, sometimes I’ve even seen them where they don’t have those in there, which is obviously a plumbing mistake. But if you don’t have a trap or if the trap dries out, then you could be getting sewage gas that backs up from the rest of the house and gets in there. So that sewage smell is usually because of a problem with venting pipes or the drain pipes and you need to get to the bottom of that and that will solve that issue.

LORI: OK, so who do I – talk to a plumber?

TOM: Plumber. Yep, plumber. Yeah, there are different ways to solve it but if you’re getting a sewage gas smell, then it’s a venting issue.

LORI: OK.

TOM: Alright, Lori?

LORI: Thank you.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.