Sewer Gas Odor Outside My House

I need your help with determining the cause of a sewer gas odor that has been occurring in the front and rear of my house. 1963 ranch style house purchased in Houston a couple of months ago (January 2005). No odor detected during inspections and visits to house prior to purchase. City has inspected city sanitary line (running in rear of backyard) and it is clear. Private clean out line is clear (in backyard). Smell has been faint to very noticeable and neighborhood walkers have called city twice. No odor in house and drains work fine. City finds nothing. Storm sewer runs in front of house, between sidewalk and street. Manhole for storm sewer one house away, no odor coming from it. Neighbors do not have smell in their yards. Odor comes from the back as well as front, but not silmutaneously. Plumbing line testing was conducted March 10, 2000 and supplied after purchase. sanitary drain plumbing is constructed with original cast iron pipes and fittings and found in poor condition. Test results found that drain plumbing leaks under static pressure conditions, but it does not necessarily mean that the system leaks under normal usage conditions. Gutters have been cleaned out, odor continues.

Where should I go next in troubleshooting this odor ?

Your help is appreciated.

Houston, what is the topography around your house? On the side of a hill by any chance? I may have a solution to your problem but need more info.

Topograhy is relatively flat. Couple of low spots in rear. There is slight slope in front to street.

Hmmmmm. Okay, the reason I asked is that I had the same problem only I live on a side hill and I did some studying on the problem and apparently this can cause downflow problems (sort of a mini inversion) that brings the odor down from your vent stacks.
The problem sounds the same though..........sometimes in front sometimes in back, neighbors have no problem (although I live on 1 acre of land so my neighbors are not that close), sometimes worse than others.

I fixed my problem by inventing a stack filter. Basically I took a tee and cut a couple of pieces of semi fine screen. I glued a piece of screen in both ends of the tee and then took some charcoal briquetts (for the barbeque) broke them up a bit inside a bag and then filled the tee with the charcoal. Now glue the final piece of screen over the tee outlet and place on your stack. Obviously you will need one for each stack (I had 3 stacks). Don't glue this filter to your stack just stick it on. I placed the outlet part down so it formed a tee to better allow air flow.

It fixed my problem immediately and haven't been bothered with it since and it has now been just shy of 2 years. Anyway other than having to go up on your roof it is a quick, inexpensive thing to try.

I am thinking of going in the business and will need a U.S. distributer (I'm from Canada). Interested.........LOL

King3244

studor vent

why not just install a 3 inch studor vent on your stack vents comming out the roof??? whatever size is necessary.

It will let air into the system when it needs to vent, but wont let air out.

thanks guys, I still question the vent theory......odors detected in front or rear of house at times, regardless of use of toilets or sinks..?

smells travel

just try it and see , it wont cost that much.

they will just look like chimmney caps on your roof.
Paint them whatever color makes them blend in

you could have some sort of "down draft" around your house
that just natrually makes the sewer stink linger around....

who knows.

Well hell and here I went to all that trouble to reinvent the wheel and what I needed was out there all the time. LOL

However, I also had trouble believing that that was the cause but it was............and like someone said it is easy and inexpensive to try.

You'r from Texas right not Missouri right?

Me from Indianapolis Indiana

Me from Texas. What does a tudor vent run ?

About a 10:5 100

Hey....... my daughter lives in Indy.

If you occasionally or constantly smell sewer gas around your home on the outside, the odor is coming from your plumbing vents. Normally the wind will carry away the funk. If conditions are right, weather/wind/humidity, land slope, will carry that stink to the ground and spoil the party. Depending on the size of your house, you'll have 1 or more plumbing vents. VentGenie Filters builds an activated carbon filter that solves this problem immediately, guaranteed. Visit VentGenieFilters.com.