top of page

We have an awful smell in the basement!


The source for stinky house smells.

We get this call often. Many times, there is a simple cure. The culprit? That lone floor drain over in the corner that has a purpose, but doesn’t get used very often (and for good reason).


It is connected to the sanitary main with a p-trap in it. The p-trap’s purpose is to hold water in the pipe. The water acts as a seal, preventing foul and flammable sewer gases from exiting the drain and entering your home. The smell problem arises due to the p-trap drying out, and can be very stinky.


The fix can be quite simple, with the solution typically already in your home. Our advice (before paying for someone to come out and investigate) is to pour some warm bleach water down the floor drain and see if that solves the smell issue. In many cases that is all it takes. We had it happen in our own office and it helped right away (with no further drain issues)!


If you’re having problems with the pipes in your home, or just want to set up a regular maintenance cleaning, give Action Plumbing a call today at 509-467-1717!

bottom of page