Q&A / 

Musty Smell in Shower

Kelsey Rogers has a musty smell when anyone takes a shower in her Chattanooga, Tennessee house. Here's the situation:

"For about the last two weeks in our home we have had a mysterious mildew/musty smell.

Usually the time we smell it is during or right after someone has taken a shower or bath. We can smell it in both bathrooms and in one bedroom which are coincidentally all on the same wall of the house.

We're  lost as to what it could be. Is it the pipes, the walls? There's no evidence of anything happening other than the strong mildew smell. Please help! Thank you!"

I know exactly what the problem is.

Kelsey, you have biofilm, mold and mildew on the drain pipe(s) that exit your shower or tub.

The smell happens when you take showers because the water releases mold spores as it flows down to the sewer. The release of the spores is achieved by a pressurized gas and this gas is what smells.

To get rid of the odor, all you need to do is clean the side walls of the drain pipes with a bottle brush.

If you just have a standard floor drain in a shower, it's easy. Take off the metal grate, run water and use a bottle brush to get rid of all the black goo until the pipe walls and everything is clean.

If you have a standard waste and overflow in a tub, you need to take off the overflow cover and get the stopper out of the drain. Then you get a long bottle brush to go down the overflow tube until you get down to the trap. A short brush works to get the floor drain pipe clean.

I GUARANTEE the odor will go away once you do this. You can clean the p-trap really well using my Stain Solver Certified organic oxygen bleach.

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