One of the most noticeable signs of a blocked drain is a distinctive and usually unpleasant smell emitting from somewhere in the home. The smell can come before any other warning signs and is naturally unpleasant for anyone who can smell it whether you’re living in the home or are visiting.
No doubt that getting rid of the smell will hump to the top of your to-do list as soon as you notice it, but the real question is how do you remove the smell and prevent it from returning in the future? In this article, we will explain how to fix smelly drains regardless of it they are inside or outside your property.
Fixing Smelly Drains Inside The House
It won’t take you a long time to notice a potent smell in your home. The bathroom and the kitchen are usually the culprits, with your toilet, sink, bath, and shower prone to clogs and blockages more than anything.
The first thing to try and the solution that should solve minor blockages in most instances is to use solution from your local supermarket or bleach to clean the drainpipe in question. For sinks, fill the basin with hot water mixed in with some blech and let the mixture slowly drain through the pipes. Doing this should clear the blockage and eliminate the smell. For the bath or shower pour the same amount of the same mixture and let it drain through the pipes.
For toilets, spread bleach around the toilet bowl then flushes it down for a quick clean. If you’d prefer not to use bleach, you can mix baking soda with vinegar and hot water for a similar effect.
Fixing Smelly Drains Outside The House
If you wander into the garden or near a drain cover outside your home and notice a sewage smell, then this is certainly a problem which will need fixing immediately.
Once the problem has left the internal pipes in your home, the possible causes become a lot harder to identify. A DIY job will usually be ineffective even if the pipe is blocked somewhere along the line, chances are it will require high pressure jetting to remove not a simple sprinkling of bleach.
The pipe could also be damaged or collapsed, leading to blockages and backups which create a strong sewage smell around your home.
For problems outside, you’ll most certainly need professional help, so contact your drainage contractor to perform an inspection of your drains. A CCTV survey should identify any blockages or damage, which can then be cleared or repaired as needed using safe and effective drainage equipment. Once the problem has been fixed, the smell should quickly clear.
What Causes Smelly Drains?
The most common cause of smelly drains is a blockage caused by organic matter which gets stuck in the drain. In the kitchen, this is usually food, cooking oil, grease, and fat. In the bathroom, it could be hair, grime build-up, or the result of flushing unwanted items down the drain including sanitary products, cotton buds, wet wipes, floss, and similar items.
For external drains, the issue is almost assured more complex. It could be a blockage in your pipes or something much further, down the sewer which affects all drains connected to it – a fatberg or drain collapse, for instance.
Sarah is the marketing executive for Trent Drains who are a drain unlocking company in Bristol who supply emergency drain unblocking and CCTV surveying in Bristol.
