Transcript
LESLIE: Bill in Kansas has a venting issue in his roof. What can we do for you today?
BILL: Yes, I’m curious how you get the smell away from the house when it’s coming out of your vents for the septic system.
TOM: So, the smell is sort of lingering in the yard?
BILL: Yeah. Yep.
TOM: Hmm.
BILL: That’s a new construction.
TOM: It’s new construction?
BILL: Yep.
TOM: Is the odor coming from the septic field or is it coming from the vents in the house?
BILL: Vents in the house.
TOM: Hmm. That’s very unusual.
BILL: That’s what they tell me.
TOM: Yeah. Is it just – I mean I question whether it is, in fact, coming from the vents in the house or whether it’s coming from, you know, perhaps some defect; some unknown or invisible defect in the way the septic system was constructed where on, say, a warm day you get some odor that comes up from the soil. What makes you think it’s coming from the vents? Because I mean what kind of house are we talking about here; a single-story, two-story house? What do you have?
BILL: Single-story, ranch-style house.
TOM: Single story. And you’ve got the plumbing vents coming up over the bathrooms and the kitchen?
BILL: Yes.
TOM: Yeah, you know I doubt very much the smell is coming from there and working its way back because all that warm, moist air wants to go straight up. I suspect something might be going on with the septic field and you may need to get that looked at.
In your community, you might want to talk with the building inspector – typically, there’s a health official that does septic inspections – and just make sure that this system was inspected right when it was built. And since it’s such a new house, you may want to call the company back that did the installation and have them look at it again or have an independent septic inspection done to see if we can find out if there’s a broken pipe or something somewhere. Because it doesn’t sound right. Something smells rotten in Denmark.
BILL: That ain’t no kidding. (Bill and Leslie chuckles) Alrighty.
TOM: Alright, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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