Shower drain smells bad... plus...

About two years ago I hired a guy to put a bathroom in my basement. He specialized in plumbing but was kind of a jack of all trades type. He also built me a staircase. I was in a rush to get a new staircase in before my wife had our first baby. No permits or inspections were involved.

I realize now that he cut open my cement floor, broke apart some iron pipes, laid some new pipes for a toilet, sink, and shower stall, buried them, then poured concrete over them.

The new pipes were pvc and he buried them. At the time, I didn't know any better. Things work okay, although he rigged the shower drain and cut the p-trap coming off it a bit shorter so everything would work. But lately I notice a bit of a sewer smell coming from the shower drain. Nothing overpowering, but it's there.

I use the shower pretty regularly so I don't thing the p-trap dried up. Then again, I recently had some pipes routed out, so maybe that stirred something up. But I'm worried about the buried pvc. I've since tiled the floor and I don't want to be tearing it and the cement floor up again.

Any ideas what the smell might be due to and how to remedy?

Thanks.

PVC will last longer than cast iron, so that isn't the culprit. Improper installation, though could easily be.

Does the shower smell more like a swamp or rotten eggs? Were you there when he installed the shower pan? Is the shower tiled, or a pre-fab? If tiled, and the waterproofing layer is flat on the floor, that WILL allow water to accumulate under the tile, and eventually smell like a swamp unless it is seldom used and can dry out (could take weeks). If that is it, wiping the shower down with a towel or squeegy after each shower will help, but not solve the problem as would sealing the grout.

If the drains did not include venting, running water through one of the other fixtures can siphon out other drains. Do any pipes run vertically from the new stuff?

Try pouring a cup of bleach in the drain and let it sit for a day or so and see if that helps.

more like swamp, but it seems to be gone...

The smell is gone. Must've had something to do with the clog I had recently and some routing and cutting out of pipes.

The shower pan is prefab and as far as I know it was installed okay, except that the p-trap under the drain was cut a bit shorter to allow it to connect with the other pipes.

The pipes do connect to a vent, but I don't think each fixture was vented. Anyway, I hope it hangs together. The guy who did it didn't do everything properly, but overall, he seemed to do it in a way that generally works.

We'll see if it comes up again. I'm glad to know that burying pvc in this case won't be a huge issue. I thought small stones and shifting pressure could puncture pvc and so that it should be buried under any circumstances.

Thanks for the advice. We'll see what happens.

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