drainfly
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As my login name and subject line indicate, I've got a major drain fly problem in my downstairs bathroom that has me at my wit's end. Here's a brief history. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
In 9/2005, I purchased a split-level home in Lexington, MA which was built on a concrete slab in 1973. The property abuts wetlands in the backyard. The house is on town sewer and has a 6-zone in-ground sprinkler system which is served by a private well on the property.
The downstairs bathroom is essentially at ground level. It has a shower with a floor drain, a toilet, a sink and sliding window. There is no ceiling ventilation. The bathroom abuts the laundry room and the utility room.
-In October of last year, we had 10 straight days of heavy rain, which lead to some flooding at the fringes of my backyard. Nothing infiltrated the house from what I could see.
-On two consecutive days in December, the toilet in the bathroom overflowed with the contents of our garbage disposal. The kitchen is situated above the bathroom. I had a roto-rooter guy come and he gave us an expensive lesson on why we shouldn't flush baby wipes.
-Concurrent with this incident, the downstairs bathroom was filled with a mighty sewer stench coupled with the appearance of some drain flies. The plumber changed the wax seal on our toilet and sold us some bio-clean powder to treat the shower floor drain, toilet and sink. The bathroom floor is cheap linoleum and showed evidence of curling up under the radiator. I cut away the curled piece of linoleum and caulked around the base of the radiator and the toilet. Eventually, the odor dissipated.
-In May, we had another week of non-stop rain, and again the wetlands flooded, with no visible effects to my house.
-From the spring until now, we have had a raging drain fly problem in the bathroom. The toilet was flushing poorly, so we had it snaked. No fix to the fly problem, though. I treated all the drains with vector bio-5 gel. Nothing. We saw that the floor drain trap holds water, and I was religious about making sure it didn't dry up. I even poured boiling water down the drains several times. I sprayed along the floor and window with gentrol and identified tons of larvae in the seams of the window. I cleaned up the window with bleach and the larvae disappeared there. Nonetheless the flies are everywhere. I've caulked every inch of the bathroom to no avail, and covered the drains and base of the toilet with duct tape. No fix. A plumber tested the radiator and found no evidence that it's leaking.
-At this point, I had a plumber look again, and he suggested that the shower pan could be leaking and that we tear up the shower floor and break into the slab. I expressed some skepticism, because when we cover the floor drain with tape, the room still fills up with flies. Nonetheless, I filed an insurance claim b/c of the likely expense of tearing up the shower floor.
-At the same time, I had a bathroom remodeling general contractor look at the bathroom, and the plumber they sent suggested that the problem is due to poor pipe ventilation. He showed that when he flushed the toilet or ran the bathroom sink, the water in the floor drain trap moved up and down. He also suggested that the drain pipe was unusually long (like 18 inches or so). Their suggested remedy was to fix the vent stack and tear up all the plumbing under the floor to fix the system. Understandably, my insurance company balked and wants to send someone to scope the floor drain pipes to look for evidence of a breach.
-In the meantime, I've noticed outside my bathroom is where the cover to my well is. Moreover, I've found an exposed PVC pipe (about 2 inches in diameter) sticking a few inches out of the ground about 5 feet to the left of the well cap. this pipe is obstructed with rocks. i have no idea where this pipe leads. i checked with my town, and there is no history of there having been a septic system, so i'm thinking maybe it's a stub for the sprinkler system? it appears to go down pretty deep.
-In summary, my questions are:
1) is it a reasonable course of action to have the pipes scoped?
2) is there a reason to believe that poor pipe ventilation is the culprit here? and if so, do i really need to replace the whole stack to remedy the problem?
3) what could that pipe be sticking out of the ground, and is it a possible culprit?
4) is it possible that groundwater rose so high after the wetlands flooded that I had seepage under my foundation and that caused a breeding ground for the flies, and that they are entering through cracks that I can't see?
I'm vacuuming dozens of fly corpses and live flies from my bathroom every day and am at my wit's end? I'm prepared to remodel my bathroom, but I'm leary about tearing up the concrete slab and possibly replacing the whole vent stack.
What would you recommend????
Thank you,
drainfly
In 9/2005, I purchased a split-level home in Lexington, MA which was built on a concrete slab in 1973. The property abuts wetlands in the backyard. The house is on town sewer and has a 6-zone in-ground sprinkler system which is served by a private well on the property.
The downstairs bathroom is essentially at ground level. It has a shower with a floor drain, a toilet, a sink and sliding window. There is no ceiling ventilation. The bathroom abuts the laundry room and the utility room.
-In October of last year, we had 10 straight days of heavy rain, which lead to some flooding at the fringes of my backyard. Nothing infiltrated the house from what I could see.
-On two consecutive days in December, the toilet in the bathroom overflowed with the contents of our garbage disposal. The kitchen is situated above the bathroom. I had a roto-rooter guy come and he gave us an expensive lesson on why we shouldn't flush baby wipes.
-Concurrent with this incident, the downstairs bathroom was filled with a mighty sewer stench coupled with the appearance of some drain flies. The plumber changed the wax seal on our toilet and sold us some bio-clean powder to treat the shower floor drain, toilet and sink. The bathroom floor is cheap linoleum and showed evidence of curling up under the radiator. I cut away the curled piece of linoleum and caulked around the base of the radiator and the toilet. Eventually, the odor dissipated.
-In May, we had another week of non-stop rain, and again the wetlands flooded, with no visible effects to my house.
-From the spring until now, we have had a raging drain fly problem in the bathroom. The toilet was flushing poorly, so we had it snaked. No fix to the fly problem, though. I treated all the drains with vector bio-5 gel. Nothing. We saw that the floor drain trap holds water, and I was religious about making sure it didn't dry up. I even poured boiling water down the drains several times. I sprayed along the floor and window with gentrol and identified tons of larvae in the seams of the window. I cleaned up the window with bleach and the larvae disappeared there. Nonetheless the flies are everywhere. I've caulked every inch of the bathroom to no avail, and covered the drains and base of the toilet with duct tape. No fix. A plumber tested the radiator and found no evidence that it's leaking.
-At this point, I had a plumber look again, and he suggested that the shower pan could be leaking and that we tear up the shower floor and break into the slab. I expressed some skepticism, because when we cover the floor drain with tape, the room still fills up with flies. Nonetheless, I filed an insurance claim b/c of the likely expense of tearing up the shower floor.
-At the same time, I had a bathroom remodeling general contractor look at the bathroom, and the plumber they sent suggested that the problem is due to poor pipe ventilation. He showed that when he flushed the toilet or ran the bathroom sink, the water in the floor drain trap moved up and down. He also suggested that the drain pipe was unusually long (like 18 inches or so). Their suggested remedy was to fix the vent stack and tear up all the plumbing under the floor to fix the system. Understandably, my insurance company balked and wants to send someone to scope the floor drain pipes to look for evidence of a breach.
-In the meantime, I've noticed outside my bathroom is where the cover to my well is. Moreover, I've found an exposed PVC pipe (about 2 inches in diameter) sticking a few inches out of the ground about 5 feet to the left of the well cap. this pipe is obstructed with rocks. i have no idea where this pipe leads. i checked with my town, and there is no history of there having been a septic system, so i'm thinking maybe it's a stub for the sprinkler system? it appears to go down pretty deep.
-In summary, my questions are:
1) is it a reasonable course of action to have the pipes scoped?
2) is there a reason to believe that poor pipe ventilation is the culprit here? and if so, do i really need to replace the whole stack to remedy the problem?
3) what could that pipe be sticking out of the ground, and is it a possible culprit?
4) is it possible that groundwater rose so high after the wetlands flooded that I had seepage under my foundation and that caused a breeding ground for the flies, and that they are entering through cracks that I can't see?
I'm vacuuming dozens of fly corpses and live flies from my bathroom every day and am at my wit's end? I'm prepared to remodel my bathroom, but I'm leary about tearing up the concrete slab and possibly replacing the whole vent stack.
What would you recommend????
Thank you,
drainfly
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