Help - Strange smell in bathroom

thescouselander

there was recently a strange musty smell in our bathroom. After a bit of investigation I found the source as being the sealing strip of the shower screen which had collected stagnent water that had gone moldy.

I gave the sealing strip a good cleaning in bleach which got rid of the mold and the smell and I put it back on the shower screen.

The problem is that my OH still says the smell is still there (although I cant smell it myself) but I cant find where it is coming from. I gave the whole bathroom a clean from top to bottom including putting plughole cleaner in the bath and sink but apparently the smell is still there.

Does anyone know where the smell could be coming from and how to get rid of it.

brig001

There may be an air admittance valve on the soil stack. Our stack is internal and the cistern enclosed and something like this http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsessionid=WKLBWP4WDCLSKCSTHZPCFFA?_dyncharset=UTF-8&fh_search=air+admittance is next to the cistern. They are not very reliable and can allow air to escape as well as "admit" which leaves the soil stack open to the room. We got away with cleaning ours and giving it a shake.

zebidee1

We had this a while ago. It was there for months and nothing we did made any difference.

It was only when we started on our home improvements that we discovered the plasterboard walls (although they looked ok on the outside) had mould spots on the bottom edge and on the inside. We would never have seen this if we hadn't have been moving walls.

We didn't even think we had any leaks around the bath or shower but there must have been some dampness creeping in over a period of time and this was causing the musty smell.

We haven't done anything in the bathroom yet other than rip off the plasterboard at the side of the bath and the smell is completely gone already.

I wonder if you have had any slight leaks around your shower area? I hope it's more simple than that though.....I hope you dont have to replace your walls!

Pennylane

Have you tried taking off side of bath and looking underneath? We had a very slight leak in a previous home.;)

simbasweetie

Did you make sure your squirted bleach down the overflow hole in the sink and bath. Sometimes there's a pong comes out of there !!!

thescouselander

Thanks for the tips. I've checked all of the things mentioned but I might have another look under the bath incase I missed something.

Bang

Have same problem really. Put it down to the water coming out of taps from the old water tank in the loft as it defo seems to be coming from the taps - worse after they've been running for a while.

The water coming in from the mains into the kitchen is fine!

fredy34

Digging up this thread as i have a similar problem. Have a strange smell in my bathroom, smells a bit like paint thinners and i am at a loss as to where its coming from. Ive removed virtually everything from the bathroom with no joy. If the window is open you cant notice the smell but keep it shut and within half an hour you can smell it. In the bathroom is a bath with shower (powered by a phoenix gas boiler) a sink and a toilet. 1 light and a hatch to the roofspace (It just smells of wood and cold up there!).

Please help any suggestions welcome.