Toilet pipe inside house

johnmck

I moved into a house about 10 months ago. It's an old house (old part being 200 years somebody said). The toilet we use upstairs has it's pipe running down through the livings room - it's boxed in, so you can't see it. However, we've started to notice a horrible sewage smell coming from the toilet, and then a urine smell in the living room. I'm guessing this is because a toilet should never be plumped this way - am I correct?

I've said it to the landlord and he cleaned the septic tank - which was full. I said it again and he said to flush the back toilet every so often. This is not the solution as the smell just keeps coming back. Is there any health risks?

DoneDL

Ideally soil stacks should be outside but it is quite common to have an internal soil stack. The fact that you can smell sewage is not life threatening but I would say that it is definitely unhealthy. The backup from the septic may have seaped through a joint in the downpipe so I would suggest that your landlord should have it investigated. The smell from the toilet usually indicates a degree of blockage.

Joey the lips

I think whats wrong is the soil stack is not vented and your getting back pressure through a joint.. However if this was a problem when you flush the chain all the water would disapper out of the trap in the toilet...If that makes sense.

If it were me i would open the box in an inconspecicious place and have a look.

Outside that I would tell the landlord that you will have to inform environmental health as you are hardly sleeping or eating due to the vile smell.