Laundry rooms, as the name implies, are places for doing laundry. They can be found in your home’s basement or, more likely, in a specific room.
When you get home one day, you notice that your house smells funny. You continue searching your home’s rooms until you find the laundry room’s source of the strange smells. They have a sewage-like odor.
It can be rather frustrating when you don’t know what’s causing these odors.
But don’t worry; it’ll be easy to solve if you figure out what’s causing it.
Why is There Sewer Smell In My Laundry Room?
Sewer smells usually contain carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other gases. These gases are usually evident from the degradation of human sewage.
So if you perceive some kind of rotten-egg smell, you most likely have a sewage problem on your hands.
If you have a basement laundry room, you’re almost certainly dealing with sewer and drainage problems.
Even though odors can come from the washer, the laundry room’s drainage system is also more often at fault.
So, what exactly is causing the nasty smells in your laundry room? Let us investigate why this is the case.
- Faulty drain system
A bad drainage system is often the cause of sewer smells in your laundry room.
The drainage pipes and valves drain excess water from different areas, and your washer can become faulty and clogged.
Sometimes it could be due to faulty connections of the pipes during installation. This causes the bad water to build up in the pipes and give off the nasty sewer smells that trickle into your laundry room.
- Bad S-traps
Plumbing traps or, if you like, S-traps are situated close to the drain systems of the laundry room or your house generally.
They look like little Ps and function by holding water within their pipes to prevent sewer smells from coming up through the pipes.
Sewer smells usually occur when there’s no water within the traps and therefore cannot block any nasty smells.
The plugs that lead to the traps and pipes can be clogged too. These plugs provide an easy entry for unclogging the S-traps and drain pipes.
- Leaky sewer pipes
Bad sewer pipes are mostly the primary reason your laundry room smells like a sewer.
Sewer pipes connect with the drainage system and channel sewage and its gaseous components to the sewers.
These nasty sewer smells usually occur due to breaks in the length of the sewer pipes. It’s also probably because the connections of the pipes are not standard, or maybe the pipes are blocked with much sewage or other debris.
How Can I Fix This Sewer Smell In My Laundry Room?
Many people experience this situation, but sometimes because they think it’s a minor issue, they tend to mask the smells with air fresheners and deodorizers.
Really, you should know how to fix the sewer smell issue and fix it on time.
You can follow these simple steps outlined below.
- Drains should be checked and cleaned
As previously stated, drains remove surplus water from washing machines and other household appliances.
To determine if the drainage system is the source of the problem, the first step is to study it.
If that’s the case, all that’s left to do now is clear out any debris and flush the pipes with water.
You can also use a snake to unclog the drains to avoid collecting extra water.
- Inspect sewer pipes for leakage
Sewage lines carry sewage. They’re most likely buried in the laundry room’s walls or floors beneath your washer and dryer.
If you determine this is the source of the sewer odor, contact a plumber to get it repaired.
They’ll be able to locate the issue and provide appropriate solutions, which could involve sewer pipe replacement.
If you wish to handle it yourself, you can inspect the pipes for leaks and repair or replace them if they are reasonably beyond repair.
- Fill S-traps with water
S-traps block any nasty sewer smells from entering the laundry room. If these traps are not always filled with adequate water, the smells do not get any form of resistance.
If the S-traps are dry from lack of use or neglect, they’re free to do as they please and waft into the laundry room.
It would most likely cause some serious issues concerning health and safety.
- Fix washer drain connection
If you discover your washer’s connection with the drainage system of the laundry room is the culprit, you might want to remove any part of the connection that might show any signs of damage.
Leaks, and clogs, all result in the build-up of dirty water, which invites tons of bacteria and causes a whole lot of sewer smell even on your clothing. That’s pretty bad.
- Ventilate the laundry room and perfume it
After following the steps outlined above, it’s time to ventilate and perfume the laundry room with nice scents,
Airing the laundry room with ventilation is quite important. However, they’re also pretty hard to, especially if they are in the basement.
You should examine and eliminate the smells by airing your laundry and adding some perfumes to remove the odor.
Be careful not to use much so they may not worsen the smells.
What If My Washer Has This Sewer Smell?
As I mentioned earlier, sewer smells in your laundry room can also come from your washing machines.
This is usually so due to the number of bacteria accumulating in various parts of the washer.
If your laundry room is situated in the basement, it’s pretty cold down there and a perfect environment for these bacteria to thrive.
If your washer smells like the sewers, it’s because you probably use dirty water to do the laundry or use excessive detergent with little water.
- To resolve this, you should clean your washer interior, especially if you haven’t done that in a long time.
- Also, you should check out the correct amount of detergent for your laundry load from your washer manual.
- Lastly, you shouldn’t leave damp clothing in your washer.
Why Do I Need To Get Rid Of Sewer Smell In My Laundry Room?
Sewer smells are composed of different gases, although not quite harmful, and the mixture’s high levels can cause serious issues for the individual.
Sewer gas component; sulfide is quite harmful to humans as it can cause problems with respiration and the heart.
Just like cooking gas, areas with sewer smells are likely to get flammable. If you don’t want to have to call the fire service, you should fix this problem.
Nobody likes bad smells anyways. It can be pretty embarrassing for you if you’ve got a visitor.
It can even rub off on your clothing as you do your laundry. You wouldn’t want to go out smelling like the underground sewer.
Fixing the sewer smell issue is essential to maintaining proper hygiene and clean-smelling clothing.