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Neighbour can smell sewage from our toilet.

View the thread, titled "Neighbour can smell sewage from our toilet." which is posted in Boiler Advice Forum on UK Plumbers Forums.

S

SimbaM

Neighbour can smell sewage from our toilet.
A very smelly problem – our neighbour can smell sewage from our toilet. We live in a semi-detached 1950s house. We can smell nothing. Our neighbour has tried really hard to investigate the problem, but can’t get to the bottom of it and it's really getting him down. We want to help resolve the issue. I wonder if anyone on this forum might be able to offer some help.
Our neighbour says that when we flush the toilet smell is overpowering - he can also smell when cleaning products are being used. So far, the neighbour has:
• Contacted 3 x plumbers, none were able to offer advice and/or solution
• He has had the drain looked at, but the person was not familiar with the system and unable to help
• A Building Inspector friend has suggested it could be a split in his soil pipe (the one that bridges the interior and exterior walls) that could be allowing smell from the drains to pass into the cavity. He recommended using a builder not a plumber for the work
• A builder has removed a brick near soil pipe and inspected his soil pipe from inside the cavity. He said there was no obvious smell. He blocked off the drain from shared down pipe and used a smoke pellet (via top of soil stack) to check for leakage, there was no result.
Does anyone have any ideas to steer us into sorting this out? We don’t know if we need a plumber, builder or someone other speciality service. Can you help?!
 
Can you post any photos of all the outside soil pipes above ground.

Does the shared soil pipe stack rise to roof level and have an open end for venting?
Are there any inspection chambers in the area of where the soil pipe goes into the ground?

After the point where the shared soil pipe goes into the ground the responsibility for blockages and repairs to the pipework and chambers rests with the local water company.
 
In your neighbour's house:

A. Does the level of water in their pan fluctuate significantly when you flush your toilet?
B. Where is the smell manifesting itself?
C. How long ago did the problem first occur?
D. Is the connector between the toilet pan and the down-pipe flexible? (A photo would be helpful.)
 
A few pictures of the external drainage run and any man hole drain covers ? would help here the chaps are on it . Kop
 
We had a drain smell problem, and were able to track down where it was coming from by using one of these:

They are somewhat basic in operation, but with a bit of patience did the job for us!
 
Thanks everyone !! I will get some photos and post here. Any advice is welcome - and I'm very appreciative that you're comsidering our problem!
 
What is wrong with Amazon links?????
Just see the logo, no link.
Is it just me?
 

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What is wrong with Amazon links?????
Just see the logo, no link.
Is it just me?
That is weird. I post a link copied and pasted, not a picture. Then plumbersforum seems to turn it into an image. Then maybe that's too big for a phone to decide to download it!
It works for me on a tablet, but then I posted it 🤪
 
Last edited:
That is weird. I post a link copied and pasted, not a picture. Then plumbersforum seems to turn it into an image. Then maybe that's too big for a phone to decide to download it!
It works for me on a tablet, but then I posted it 🤪
Ive noticed it a few times, even on linkz I've posted...
 
Here's one of mine - doesn't work for me
👎👎
 

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SimbaM,
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