Ok, now my plumbing problem...

On the surface, it's simple to describe: When the washing machine empties, the drain in the basement floor "gurgles." Sometimes an odor fills the basement after the gurgle so I'd like to fix the problem with a solution other than "don't run the washer."

House is an early 60's split level with a full bath and a half bath upstairs, a half bath and washer/dryer room on the garden level and a basement floor drain. The washer/dryer room and bathroom on the garden level are directly below the fullbath & half bath upstairs. I've only had one wall between the upstairs baths open and it appears that the commodes dump into a ventstack in that wall. There is a 4" cleanout in the garden level of that wall. The lavs in the two upstairs bathrooms appear to have separate vents through the roof. I suspect the garden level lav vent ties in with the bath above it's vent. The kitchen sink appears to have it's own vent. The kitchen drain ties into the rest of the system below the basement slab. Obviously I'm guessing on the venting arraignments. All I really know is that there are 4 roof vent penetrations.

Ok, so that's a bit of info for a rough idea of the layout. What more info do I need to provide? More importantly, how do if fix what to me seems to be a venting problem?

More than likely it is a partial drain clog, not a venting problem.

Anytime waste water/sewage goes through the drain it does 2 things; pushes air in front of it and sucks air behind it. Change that equation and the problems are created.

When water approaches an obstruction the turbulence of air forces back from the stopping point to the nearest open orifice. That would be the floor drain which is usually the lowest point of the drainage system.

The simple fix would be to have the drain cleaned to resolve the matter. No hand snakes....mechanical.

Thanks for the suggestion. No problem renting a powersnake and getting after it. Opening the clean-outs will be fun...they have the appearance of not being moved for many years and repaintings.

If it is cast-iron with brass plugs either spray it with lubricant and tie a rag around it overnight or use extreme heat from a torch and get it to turn.

Worse case scenario is to take the center out of the cap (soft brass) and cut upwards a V shape and remove the tab, pry the rest out and use a dollar plug in it's place.

Most times the threads are destroyed and no luck of a new cap meshing with the older/dirty threads.

They make lead caps but are hard to find. They conform well.

The first clean-out proved to be easy. Seems someone was liberal with the dope and it held up for many years. Have to wait 'till the washer is done to attack the second clean-out. I'll stop by the rental place for the snake tomorrow after work. The rental folks have a real nice overnight policy, they don't make you rush to get things back to'em before closing.

Well, what-do-ya know, the power snake appears to have solved the problem. Thanks.