okay...so i moved to chicago in november and i was really excited for summer finally getting here until the "smell" arrived. at first it was very minimal and didn't pay attention to it, but last thursday it smelled like a mens' bathroom. i'm talking about the smell of residual urine...somewhere. i initially just chalked it up to the heat and skipping a week on the bathroom detail (i clean it every two weeks!). but then when i attempted to track the source down with my nose, i came up empty. i could smell it but when i tried to hone in on it, it would dissipate...weird. so, this past weekend i cleaned it...the whole bathroom: shower, shower curtain, toliet, sink, floor....everything, but the scent was still there. so i bought some CRL, the super cleaner, and made the decision that i was going to win this. did another round of cleaning and in doing this discovered that my toliet, as it meets the tiled bathroom floor, isn't caulked and there was funk built up there.
2008-06-09T07:08:24Z
i thought i had i figured out. so i cleaned that along with the whole room with the CRL yesterday. this morning, however, the smell has returned...it's not as strong but IT'S STILL THERE!!! and it seems to be hanging around the entrance near the door of the bathroom. and ya'll, i've looked everywhere. i investigated under the sink, around the toliet, and i'm just so confused at this point...how do i track this problem scent when every time i go after it with my nose, it dissappears? i was just trying to garner some helpful advice or maybe see if anyone has ever had a problem like this before cause i need some help. thanks so much!!!
open4one2008-06-09T07:47:04Z
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There's a couple of possibilities.
The toilet not being caulked may be the clue. That suggests to me that a previous tenant did some repair and didn't really know what they were doing. If that's the case, you basically need the building super to remove the toilet and re-install it, carefully sealing everything that needs to be sealed. Where the fixture meets the floor, you have a large "wax ring", and if the handyman that removed the toilet didn't replace that, it may be that it isn't sealed properly, and there's your source of the smell. That's not the caulking, it's inside the unit. A person that would re-install without caulking is a likely suspect for re-installing without a new wax ring.
Another place it came come from is also because of incompetent repairs. Once the water drains from your sink, it goes through an S curve which keeps vapors from coming up the sink, because below there, it drains right into the same pipe as the toilet. If that pipe isn't sealed at all points between, you get odor coming up under your sink.
If you're lucky, it's one of those two. If it isn't, there may be leaks in the pipes that come from other apartments.
Ask the Manager to have the super come and inspect the sink and re-install the toilet. See if doing those two things fixes it.
K, you mentioned there was no caulking around the toilet, but a build up of "funk".
I recommend going to Lowes or Home Depot, and have them show you how to replace the toilet bowl wax ring. It is the "sealant" between the sewer line and the base of your toilet.
Every so often those have to be changed, it may be JUST that "simple."
Things you'll need: Gloves (So you don't get other people's "ICK" on your hands) Safety goggles (I'm really inane about the possibility of splashes) An adjustable Wrench (to remove the nuts under the nut caps on the sides of the toilet) A new Wax toilet bowl ring (available from most home improvement stores, and Walmart, and grocery stores down the bathroom cleaning isle) Possibly some petroleum Jelly (if there's some on those bolt posts...) Paper towels, or throw away cloths for mopping up drips, wiping away the gunk on the floor and around the base of the toilet, and the possible gunk around the bolt posts.
The general idea is that you turn off the water to the toilet (the little knobs behind the toilet. Then you flush, letting the water all drain away. Then un-hook the water supply from the toilet.
After that, remove the toilet tank lid, and put it somewhere safe. Then remove the nuts on the bolt posts (on the sides of the toilet, holding the toilet to the floor), and gently rock and lift the toilet off the posts. You may want to tip the toilet forward. BE VERY CAREFUL. My husband prefers to stand it in the tub...easier to clean, less likely to crack the bowl or the tank. You can also remove the tank from the bowl, but that can be really tedious and time consuming. Probably safer though.
The sewer odor SHOULD not be overwhelming... there is a natural vacuum there, and odors SHOULD be pulled away. However, if you notice it is over whelming then, call a plumber, there's a build up of gunk there that needs to be dealt with.
After you clean up the old wax ring, place the new one on the sewer flange or on the base of the toilet (better seal), carefully put the toilet back on the sewer flange, feeding the bolts through the bolt holes. Press hard, making sure you SEAL the toilet to the sewer flange. Replace the nuts, and apply the sealant (petroleum jelly) if you'd like to the nut covers, and put them back over the nuts/bolt studs. Hook up the water supply to the toilet, watch the toilet tank refill, put the tank cover back on the toilet, and you've done a good job and HOPEFULLY gotten rid of that evasive odor.
OK... but since the odor is closer to the door,,,,and you just mentioned the funk and not the smell coming from the base of the toilet,,,the next thing i would check is in the drain hole of the sink,,,not the drain itself but the overflow,,,that can build up a powerful odor,,,if it is the source,,,put something in it to help freshen it up and then seal the hole with a little plumbers caulk,,, but do have the super address the toilet,, for odor around the house at anytime remember that vinegar is an odor eliminator,,so if you get a few styrofoam cups and place about half full behind the toilet,,the bathroom will remain fresh,,,,
My son had this prob. His toilet was leaking around the seal and also running back into the baseboard so you couldn't see anything. We put a new seal and then I poured allot of vinegar into the baseboard. We did this several times and the smell went away.