Odour in house

[Mark]

I’m suspicious of my vent stack. When we have winds blowing from a South Easterly direction our house starts to smell of a musty, moldy type odour. I’ve check all the plumping in attic and made sure everything was clear and connected. Couldn’t find any poor connections.

The house was built in 1998. I live in Southern Ontario not far from Detroit, Michigan.

We have two vent stack on the house. But it’s usally only the East side of house that starts to get the odour.

My question’s are, should the stack be capped? Its just straight up and how high should a stack be compared to the roof line? Or should it be above the top of the roof? Its only 14″ above the roof. Lastly could I pour bleach or something down it to curb the odour?

[homebild]

Vent stacks only need to go as high as the average snow fall for your area dictates. They do not have to go above the roof line. They must NEVER be capped.

I would agree that what you smell is sewer gas, however, it may simply be the result of a cracked vent pipe or dislocated joint on the vent stack.

It is also possible that you do not have a proper trap on the main sewer line to your house and are therefore feeding direct sewer gases up thru the roof vents. This would cause sewer odour under proper wind conditions.

Pouring bleach or anything into the stack won’t help.

You should probably have a pumbing professional come by and run a video camera thru your sewer lines and vents to determine if and where any break in the line may be occuring.

[grasshopper]

I would suspect mold growth around the window frames on the SE side of the home from rain leakage. When the odor is present, sniff the windows on side of the home that the wind is coming from. If so, correct the trim defect to keep the window frame dry.

[Mark]

Well we’ve done the plumber thing. With the camera. That was neat. Pricey too. Any how they say there is nothing wrong with the vent system and the plumbing lines.

The gentleman is suspicious of the vinyl siding.

He thinks maybe we should look at it.

He has noticed that its is the only side where the vinyl is on without no laps. Perhaps its too tighly sealed and mold is forming on the west wall. He’s considering the Position of the house.

For the fee he charged. It was nice that he at least gave some suggestions.

Grasshopper – We’ve found no moulding on the south windows or the East Windows. Those are the only one’s No odour at them either. Its just along the west wall from what we’ve determined now.

[Author]

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