How should I seal a bathtub's pipes in a wooden floor?

Question

Hi there, I recently moved into a place that had been uninhabited for months. The cast-iron bathtub was leaking a bad smell (sewer gas?). We ran a lot of water through the bathtub, and this helped. It seems that the tub's P-trap had been dry from lack of use.

Since then, I've grown more concerned because the clawfoot bathtub pipes do not have anything around them to seal them to the wood floor. Should there be a wax seal (like under a commode), or some sort of flashing with caulk, or something else? Right now there are squarish holes in the wooden planks around the bath's pipes. There is quite a bit of empty space visible in my bathroom floor around these pipes.

This was lower on my to-do list because I shower in the other bathroom. But since we had gas leaking into our bathroom from the tub's plumbing, I want to make sure that this won't be a health problem / cause any more gas leaks. Thanks for listening!

Karen L · Accepted Answer

It isn't strictly necessary to seal the holes around where the pipes go through the floor. You can do it for the sake of neatness, in which case an escutcheon plate is neater than caulking. You can do it so rodents don't come through the holes if they lead to an area rodents can get in from, like a crawlspace. You can do it so things don't fall through the holes, if the holes are that big. The sewer gas came up through the drain, not through the holes in the floor. The drain only goes to the sewer system, not to some other part of your house, and the drain system and water pipes are totally separate.

? · Answer

it only smelled because there was no water in the trap. if there is water in the trap and your still smelling sewer you have a broken drain or sewer line. they could have put a cover for the hole in the floor when they put the pipe together. you would need to take the pipe apart to put it on now. if you just want to fill the gap
around the pipe now you can spray a little of a can of expanding foam to fill the gap. don't use a lot or it will expand all over.

? · Answer

The section under the bath tub it's a opening of 8x8 which allow to connect the faucet floor of the bath tub to the drain pipe ,
The seal section it's include the rubber washer from under the bath tub and brass chrome plated from inside of the tube secure by a screw .there's a short pipe that it's connect the bath tub to the drain pipes and seal by the gaskets .you could not seal it to the floor like toilet bowl and need the space to replacing or any repair ,since you can not remove that bath tube every time that need the repair in the drain section .

James · Answer

measure the pipe , (probably 1 1/2" to 2 1/4") next go to the store and buy a split escunteon and caulk.   come home and use them.  sewer gas would not be the problem. the problem is under house odors where things go to die , etc., not to mention insects of all kinds.  professional plumbers should have sealed all thru floor penetrations. may want to look around for other gaps or openings

? · Answer

The sewer gases were coming from inside the drain pipe because the trap dried out.  (You know that.)

The sewer gases do not come from the outside of the pipe.

Trending News

How should I seal a bathtub's pipes in a wooden floor?

5 Answers