tropicalbeaches
New Member
OK, so I live in Croatia, but I'm from the US, and I have what I think is an interesting problem, though it is a very bad problem for me.
We bought a flat on the 15th floor of a high rise made primarily of concrete. It has a bathroom and half-bathroom (toilet/sink) side by side. Behind the back wall, which both bathrooms share, are 2 vertical columns for ventilation which seem to run the length of the building.
In the bathroom, there is a 16 inch thick structural column that sticks out on this wall. This same column continues through the bathroom wall and divides the ventilation column into two, which is why there are 2 ventilation columns.
------------------------| |-----------------------
Column A (no air) | | Column B (air into flat)
------------------------| |-----------------------
There is a 100mm ventilation hole in each room, on each column. On the left column, no air tries to enter the flat. On the right column, liters upon liters of foul smelling air are being pushed into the apartment. Not only that, the air will try to come in through any hole at all, whether it's for water fixtures, shower fixtures, or anything else. Air even seems to come in through the paste that holds the tiles on. I have figured this out by taping plastic bags on things, and they fill up with air.
So we siliconed all the water fixtures, toilet. I am suspicious of the bath overflow but it seems OK. Access panels are currently taped to seal them. FWIW, drains also smell bad when connecting them to trap.
In the half-bath (toilet), we have a Geberit. Currently, air is coming in through the bottom of the wall-mounted toilet, which the plumber neglected to seal, though the ventilation fan hole (currently sealed with tape), and through the buttons of the Geberit.
The plumber and tile guy (father-son) will return and we will knock all tiles off the Geberit so he can lower the toilet to an appropriate height (he mounted the thing way, way too high). These are the questions I have:
1. Most plumbing related: When we knock the tiles off the Geberit, this is our chance to stop the air coming in through the Geberit buttons. What would be the best way to do that?
2. Is there some kind of smoke test or peppermint test or something that would be interesting here.
3. High-rise related: A neighbor had an unrelated ventilation issue and brought a guy to see our flat. I asked this guy, and he said, "It's just air coming in because you are on the 15th floor of the high-rise." But I know that's not true (I wasn't his client but still, whatever dude), because air is coming in from one column, but not from the other column, and these columns are right next to each other and have identical characteristics. The question in case anyone has high-rise experience, is there a problem in my building?
4. Sealing related: Is there anything that I should know about sealing anything. The plumber just came and pumped silicon into the wall wherever there was plumbing, basically.
I would conclude by saying that I wasn't pleased with the plumber, which is why I've been DIYing a bunch of plumbing since then. I'm not sure to what extent all of this was his fault, but we will be working together again soon and I want to make sure I've got the knowledge and expertise required, because he's just a kid.
We bought a flat on the 15th floor of a high rise made primarily of concrete. It has a bathroom and half-bathroom (toilet/sink) side by side. Behind the back wall, which both bathrooms share, are 2 vertical columns for ventilation which seem to run the length of the building.
In the bathroom, there is a 16 inch thick structural column that sticks out on this wall. This same column continues through the bathroom wall and divides the ventilation column into two, which is why there are 2 ventilation columns.
------------------------| |-----------------------
Column A (no air) | | Column B (air into flat)
------------------------| |-----------------------
There is a 100mm ventilation hole in each room, on each column. On the left column, no air tries to enter the flat. On the right column, liters upon liters of foul smelling air are being pushed into the apartment. Not only that, the air will try to come in through any hole at all, whether it's for water fixtures, shower fixtures, or anything else. Air even seems to come in through the paste that holds the tiles on. I have figured this out by taping plastic bags on things, and they fill up with air.
So we siliconed all the water fixtures, toilet. I am suspicious of the bath overflow but it seems OK. Access panels are currently taped to seal them. FWIW, drains also smell bad when connecting them to trap.
In the half-bath (toilet), we have a Geberit. Currently, air is coming in through the bottom of the wall-mounted toilet, which the plumber neglected to seal, though the ventilation fan hole (currently sealed with tape), and through the buttons of the Geberit.
The plumber and tile guy (father-son) will return and we will knock all tiles off the Geberit so he can lower the toilet to an appropriate height (he mounted the thing way, way too high). These are the questions I have:
1. Most plumbing related: When we knock the tiles off the Geberit, this is our chance to stop the air coming in through the Geberit buttons. What would be the best way to do that?
2. Is there some kind of smoke test or peppermint test or something that would be interesting here.
3. High-rise related: A neighbor had an unrelated ventilation issue and brought a guy to see our flat. I asked this guy, and he said, "It's just air coming in because you are on the 15th floor of the high-rise." But I know that's not true (I wasn't his client but still, whatever dude), because air is coming in from one column, but not from the other column, and these columns are right next to each other and have identical characteristics. The question in case anyone has high-rise experience, is there a problem in my building?
4. Sealing related: Is there anything that I should know about sealing anything. The plumber just came and pumped silicon into the wall wherever there was plumbing, basically.
I would conclude by saying that I wasn't pleased with the plumber, which is why I've been DIYing a bunch of plumbing since then. I'm not sure to what extent all of this was his fault, but we will be working together again soon and I want to make sure I've got the knowledge and expertise required, because he's just a kid.
