Anyone in Plumbing/Home building/Construction? I need some help!

People_Mover · #1 08-02-2007, 04:16 PM

I just purchased a NEW two story townhome 10 months ago. It is a building of 6 units and we are on the end. Starting around Christmas, our home began to smell bad after it rains. The smell is of like rotten eggs. It's disgusting. The rain will stop and a day later, the smell will be gone. It comes from our kitchen pantry (downstairs). There is no sign of water intrusion. The walls are not wet and the builder came out with the infrared camera to check for moisture behind the walls and nothing showed up. My wife and I thought it was food, but I smelled the wall and it's coming from inside the wall! I called our builder and they cut big holes in the wall. The a/c drain line that runs under the foundation to the a/c unit at the back of the house was not foamed in properly allowing some air/gases inside so they foamed it in. I thought this solved the problem, but it's raining right now and my house STINKS again!! It smells like a dead f-ing animal. It's ONLY when it rains. We're on City, not septic. We do not have natural gas, only electricity. The builder said it could be a dried up P-trap?? but my wife's father said those take a year or more to dry out? My neighbors have no smell. This is in Florida, so no basement or fireplace either.
Any ideas wtf this is? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

guids · #2 08-02-2007, 04:47 PM

Call a plumber, theres nothing in your walls, if it happesn when it rains, and smells like eggs, it has something to do with your main, or gasses/raw sewege under the foundation, just backing up.

gilper · #3 08-02-2007, 04:57 PM

strange.
Do you have a crawl space under the house? Is the pantry on an outside wall or internal to the house? What is above the pantry? Does it smell outside or only inside the house?

poorolrich · #4 08-02-2007, 05:12 PM

Yep as guids says--=-or there is a dead body hidden somewhere.

nutfloppa · #5 08-02-2007, 06:38 PM

Is your vent pipe on the same wall where the smell is coming from?

BuckyK · #6 08-02-2007, 07:13 PM

Well my first piece of advice would be to never own a townhouse. I never understood the idea of buying property that you don't actually own.

You need to call a plumber. They will be able to help you out more than anyone can on this forum since they will be able to dig into the problem.

Since the smell only happens after it rains would mean that the storm line is backing up (either it's clogged, or the wrong line size was installed). If the wrong line size was installed, then you're responsible for the new line size if it runs under your property. If it's clogged, then you're responsible. However, your HOA dues may be able to cover the costs for you since technically all you own are from the studs in, and not anything outside the studs or below grade.

Check all your p-traps. These are meant to hold water at the bottom of the loop to make sure sewer gases don't come into your home.

No matter what, you're will need to call a plumber. Expect to pay at least $100 for him to diagnose the problem. Hand the the bill to the HOA if it's under slab or outside your house.

People_Mover · #7 08-02-2007, 10:59 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Well my first piece of advice would be to never own a townhouse. I never understood the idea of buying property that you don't actually own.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's a townhouse, not a condo, so I do own everything. They are running cameras tomorrow, so hopefully that will show something. There's a vent in the ceiling in the pantry, but the smell is definitely coming from the ground up as the wall is open right now.