Kitchen Smell: Charlesland 3 Bedroom Mid Terrace

Earlsie

Hi Folks,

Apologies digging up this old chestnut but we have what can only be described as a stink bomb smell in the kitchen area \ hallway \ downstairs toilet area. We have flushed sinks with various cleaners’ \ costic soda etc. and no joy getting rid of the smell.
The smell is not constantly there at present, I have read various posts about these smells ranging from dodgy pipework (WHB connecting to 4” Pipe) to vents in the attic not circulating air correctly.

Anyone having similar issues in Charlesland and who might be able to sort this out 

Cheers
Earlsie

Annasopra

There are lots of these issues in Charlesland because of dodgy pipework when the builder was there.

Charlie-Bravo

Ah here, 'the builder'? There we plenty of different building contractors and each building different corners of the development, then there' the sub-contractors working for each of them and how good their staff were. It's not all bad, just issues with those units people are talking about! And to be honest, some of these so called problems are just maintenance issues.

Simple solution is to remove the greased from line (reasonable maintenance) and to reseal the grommet at the waste to soil pipe connection. You might want to check the gully at the back of the house to see if it is ventilated and completely clear of the grease.

Earlsie

Have dragged out the Integrated Fridge as smell was strongest coming from back there, no joy.
The Soil Pipe connection may might be the culprit as it does look a bit shabby.

Charlie-Bravo

The soil pipe looks really bad, as if vermin had been chewing at it.

the Lamb Post

Earlsie wrote: »

Have dragged out the Integrated Fridge as smell was strongest coming from back there, no joy.
The Soil Pipe connection may might be the culprit as it does look a bit shabby.

I had similar and replaced the photographed seal below the kitchen sink and also the seal around the downstairs toilet all to no avail.

It turned out that it was the soil vent pipe not being connected to the vent in the attic. When the fumes have no where to escape to up above they will penetrate through at floor level creating the smell. We really only got the smell when everything was left unused for a while, i.e. we'd leave the house to return to the smell.

I'd certainly investigate the attic before trying to replace any other seals.

Rokyard

Hi OP,

We had similar smell in Apartments in Charlesland Pk ... turned out they never put a u-bend on the pipes leaving the kitchen so smell kept on coming back up whenever certain appliances ran or just in general. As soon as we got a new U-bend added .. the smell went away ...

pixbyjohn

It is very important to have a vapour trap on all outlets from washing machines, dishwashers and sinks of course.

Earlsie

Thanks all, checked Vents in attic and all look OK (still connected to roof tiles), U bends are in place as well.
Had plumber out and he seems to think its the Bung connecting sink pipes to soil pipe (good call Astrofluff) , hes due out this evening to fit so will keep you updated.
Cheers Earlsie.

wicklowdub

We had a similar issue about 5-6 years ago. It was a small leak in the downstairs toilet cistern that was rotting the wooden panelling that the sink and toilet were built into. Replaced the cistern and the smell went as the wood dried out after fixing the problem. The cistern was cheap rubbish to begin with.

Thestones

Did you get sorted OP? We had a terrible smell for weeks and we asked neighbours and they did too though they said it wasn't as bad as ours, the problem actually was on their side after investigation, get dyno rod or similar out, basically a tornado of **** came flowing out the once the blockage was cleared, this was at drains front of house.

Earlsie

Thestones wrote: »

Did you get sorted OP? We had a terrible smell for weeks and we asked neighbours and they did too though they said it wasn't as bad as ours, the problem actually was on their side after investigation, get dyno rod or similar out, basically a tornado of **** came flowing out the once the blockage was cleared, this was at drains front of house.

Yes we got sorted, we got Brian Mullen (Local Charlesland Plumber) to have a look at this for us, he replaced the Kitchen pipe to Soil Pipe Bung (not sure on proper name), the one he took out was well worn and fitting was loose, this was allowing smells come back up the pipe, It was strange in that the smell was hit and miss but we had it going back years.

fraturrisi

I see this thread is a bit old but I wonder if anyone can help with some advice here.
I am looking to buy a duplex in Charlesland and when inspecting the property I noticed a bad strong smell in the attic (I could smell it even with mask on), but I couldn't smell anything in the actual house.
Any ideas of what this could be? I see a few people here discussing similar issues.

2011

Very hard to know. Your best bet is to get a plumber to have a look. Some of the plumbing in Charlesland is very poor from what I have seen.

Cerco

It could be a damaged soil pipe on the property or an adjacent one.
(Soil pipe runs up just beyond the roof level, down to the sewer and connects to the toilet).
Could also be old carpet /mats in the attic. The recent warm weather would exacerbate any odours.
Ask you surveyor to check this during pre-purchase survey. In my experience they are good at spotting issues like this and might even give you a rough estimate of remediation.
If not identified then get a plumber as suggested by 2011.

fraturrisi

thanks Cerco and 2011, actually the surveyer was there already and he only reported the smell but couldn't see anything wrong...he seemed less concerned than i am about it.
On the other hand I noticed a few deodorant discs on the wall of the attic, so if makes me think it's an ongoing issue. I think calling in with a plumber seems to be the best solution here...

2011

fraturrisi wrote: »

thanks Cerco and 2011, actually the surveyer was there already and he only reported the smell but couldn't see anything wrong...he seemed less concerned than i am about it.

This could be because he won't be living in the house and you will
I would expect that the surveyor also has something in the small print which lets him off the hook in the event that the issue is far more serious.

On the other hand I noticed a few deodorant discs on the wall of the attic, so if makes me think it's an ongoing issue.

This would ring alarm bells for me. The standard of plumbing in a number of Charlesland homes is very poor in my opinion (I worked in a number of them as an electrican, much of the wiring I saw was poor too). I have seen a 3 bed in Charlesland that had serious issues with the drains for the upstairs bathroom. These issues remain for the en suite.

I think calling in with a plumber seems to be the best solution here...

That is what I would do. Ask the plumber for a price to resolve the issue, he may tell you that he can't provide a quote without an invasive survey. In this case you could ask for a "worst case scenario" quote. At least you know where you stand.

On another note the original gas bolier (if still in place) would be on its last legs. Some of the gas fires had to be disconnected for safety reasons.

awec

Personally I wouldn't proceed with this unless the issue is resolved. These sort of problems will break your heart, it's often trial and error trying to figure out what exactly is wrong.

If it was an easy or obvious fix, chances are it would have been fixed by now.

I think the only thing that would make me happy in this sort of scenario is if the plumber was able to say with really high confidence exactly what the problem is.

lakeroad

fraturrisi wrote: »

thanks Cerco and 2011, actually the surveyer was there already and he only reported the smell but couldn't see anything wrong...he seemed less concerned than i am about it.
On the other hand I noticed a few deodorant discs on the wall of the attic, so if makes me think it's an ongoing issue. I think calling in with a plumber seems to be the best solution here...

It sounds like the flexible duct which vents out the foul vent stack through the roof via a roof tile vent has disconnected. This has happened on a fair few properties within Charlesland. The vent stack pipe runs into the attic just above plasterboard ceiling below and then a flexible duct connects it to the roof vent. It’s an easy fix if that’s the issue.