Hi all,
My home wasy build this past spring. Whenever it rains I get a terrible sewage smell in the mechanical room in the basement. The house has well and septic and is on fairly heavy clay.
Subs who did the well, septic and plumbing all have been to the house and offier no suggestions as to why it happens or ho wto fix it.
This may not be relevant, but the sump pump pumps water through a pump that terminates under the front porch abour 6 inches from the foundation so it likely seeps right back to where it was pumped from (story for another time, perhaps?:)
Anyone have any ideas? Doesn’t smell pretty! Thanks and happy holidays.
Replies
Does the sump pump effluent have an odor?
Is it possible that this is old agricultural land and you lucked out and got the old barnyard? (Probably not if it's solid clay all around.)
Temporarily, at least, extend the sump pump output (eg, with a length of flex sump pump hose) to dump 15-20 feet away from the house. See if that helps.
(I assume you know that a sump pump should dump AT LEAST 10 feet and preferably 50-100 feet from the house, on a downhill slope or into a ditch.)
Will try. I have been on the builder about this issue since the house was built and withheld some $$ until he fixes it. He must not need the money 'cause he hasn't addressed it.
We had to clear significant woods for the lot, so I don't think it was a grazing area. Farms within 1/4 mile, though.
There are some clays here that have a microscopic growth that when exposed to oxygen for only a few hours begins to smell like a sewer. I often encounter it at 3-4 feet down. I don't know how widespread this is, but I suspect your problem is related to the fact that the sump was never finished.
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I've shoveled that clay as well. Does it have streaks of black in it? I think the black might be the organic decoposed stinky stuff.
usually at the point where the red clay lies right on top of blue clay, which is more impervious to migration of waterborne bacteria and small debris. You do get a thin streak of stuff there
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So for the sake of argument let's say it's a bacteria issue from the clay, or even a runoff issue from neighboring farms. I am stuck with 2 questions:
Why is it smelling up my basement and not the outside of the house, and how do I stop the smell in the basement?
Close off and vent the sump?
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There are a lot of possible reasons, tho nobody here can say for sure. Remember your local experts were already there to investigate...IMO, an interior sump is generally a bad idea, the cheaper way of dealing with the issue, but in some areas and types of soil/water conditions it is a necessity.
If it has openning to the interior air, as water runs to the sump pit, it is exposed to the same air you breathe right there, so sealiong that off better can help. Can't be airtight, unless you vent to the outside or a soil stack ( if your plumbing code allows that. Another poster here already mentioned a possiblity that something like this might have been done, but not correctly, so that the septic system is venting back into the house somehow.if the former, there is also the possibility that any radon gas in the subsoil can be entering the house via the same channels, so it is worth while to have a test on that.
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That makes sense to me, Piffin. I will look into it fter the holidays are over. Thanks to all who responsed and Happy New Year.
Not a builder, but have you tried pouring water into the floor drain, if there is one? What I'm thinking is that the sump actually is somehow tied into the drainage for the house rather than where they builder said it was. It could suck the elbow dry and cause the sewage smell to come back in the house. The low cost, low tech solution would then be to regularly fill the floor drain with water during/after a rain.
I assume the sump for the pump is in the mechanical room? And that is where the odor is strongest?
What DanH / Piffin said -- extend sump pump piping away from the house and see if that cures the problem.
I would use flexible hose for trials - if problem is cured then hard pipe it underground.
Jim
Is there a condensate drain from a dehumidifier that someone tied to a soil pipe? Just a WAG.