If you notice a foul sewer smell in your house or basement here are the five possible causes in order of probability.
Basement floor drain backing up after shower.
A blockage can occur if a portion of the line has broken but generally a blockage is.
The majority of those comments were from people trying to understand why water was backing up out of their floor drain.
Water under pressure can cause the sewer line to back up because it escapes through the lowest point it is the easiest route.
Although it may seem like it not all problems related to the backed up sewer line have to do with actual clogs and defected pipes.
I wrote a blog post explaining the basics of floor drains over eight years ago and i ve received more comments on that post than any other.
First you need to determine if it is local waste produced in your home that can t get out due to a blockage in the main line leaving your home or if it is waste from the sewer system coming back in called a backflow.
Finding the source of the basement smell.
Another possibility is that the clog is in a shared drain pipe connected to both the toilet and the shower drains.
A backed up floor drain can be mystifying.
That is because most floor drains rarely take in any water the usual problem is the opposite.
That is to say the drain and trap dry out then let in sewer gases.
In this case the problem will remain specific to your shower and toilet.
At the very least a clogged main sewer drain pipe may cause wastewater and raw sewage to back up through a floor drain into the basement or floor of an hour home.
Water in any trap under unused drains will eventually evaporate.
If the main sewer drain is clogged it can eventually back up all of the drains in the house which is why such a clog can be so serious.
Floor drains are most often installed during original construction often in the utility area to drain away excess water in the basement.
When your main drain line is clogged water has nowhere to go but back up into your home.
There s water in the basement.
So your basement floor drain is backing up and flooding.
You have a water trap under a floor drain laundry tub or wash basin that has dried out from lack of use.
Run the sink closest to the toilet for a minute and the toilet bubbles or the water level in the toilet rises.
Floor drain back ups and sewer smells.
What causes basement floor drain backing up.
A backup of this nature may indicate a clog in the main sewer line that all of your plumbing drains into so sinks and washers eventually will back up too.