Bad odors in your home can be merely annoying or a sign of bigger but undetected problems in your home. According to Los Angeles Property Management Group, bad smells in the house can come from several sources. One of the most common ones is bad odors in the laundry room. Where do laundry room odors come from?
The causes of bad odors in your laundry room range from mild to very serious. Here are the common sources of this problem:
- Damp clothes left too long inside the washer
- Forgotten laundry in the room
- Mold and mildew inside the washing machine
- Buildup of dirty water or soap scum inside the washer
- A dried-out P-trap within a floor drain
- A broken drainpipe
The first two causes are the easiest to deal with. Removing damp or forgotten clothes from the room or washing machine will resolve the issue. Depending on where the bad odors are coming from, here are some ways to address the other causes of unpleasant odors in your laundry room.
- Bad odors from your washing machine
The bad smells in your laundry room may be coming from the washing machine itself. This is a common problem with front-loaders, especially if the door is left closed between washes. The bad odors are a result of mold, mildew, and bacteria flourishing in the trapped moisture and soap scum inside the machine.
To fix this problem, do the following:
- Infrequent hot washes encourage bad smells in your washer. Run the machine on its hottest, longest cycle once a month, using the “clean washer” or “tub clean” setting.
- Run a cleaning cycle with 2 cups of vinegar added to the detergent dispenser or drum. You may also use ¼ to ½ cups of baking soda or bleach in the same way.
- Clean the washing machine. Wipe the detergent dispenser and rubber door seal with a damp cloth to remove mold and stuck dirt.
- Leave the door slightly open after every wash to allow the machine to dry out.
- Smelly washing machine drain
Detergent residue and tiny debris inside the drain hose and pipes can lead to biofilm in these areas of the plumbing. Partial clogs can cause slow drainage and also leave stagnant water inside the hose. This permits odor-causing bacteria to bloom inside the drain hose and pipes.
To solve the problem:
- Disconnect the washer and remove the drain hose. Use a plumbing snake or a brush with stiff bristles to clear any gunk inside the pipe.
- If the drain pump filter is accessible, remove it and clean it to remove lint and other small debris that may have built up inside.
- Flush the drain by pouring a ½ cup of baking soda into the pipe, followed by a ½ cup of vinegar. Let the mix sit for 15 minutes before flushing the pipe with warm water.
To prevent future smells, install a mesh lint filter at the end of the drain hose and run a hot wash cycle on a schedule to clean and sanitize the machine.
- A dried-out P-trap
The bad odors could be coming from the floor drain in your laundry room. The P-trap inside the drain may have dried out, allowing sewer gases to enter your home from the sewer line. Fixing a dried-out P-trap is easy, assuming you can find the floor drain.
How to solve this problem:
- Look for the floor drain; they are not always easy to spot. Sometimes it will be behind or underneath some other features of the room.
- Once found, pour a 5-gallon bucket of water down the floor drain to remove any debris inside it and also recharge the P-trap. The smell should stop if this is the cause.
- Also, ensure the washing machine drain hose is not pushed too far down the floor drain, or the hose will bypass the p-trap, allowing bad odors to enter your home.
- There is an odd chance that your floor drain was installed without a P-trap. If this is true, the bad smells in your laundry room will continue until you install a P-trap in the drain.
- There is also a chance that the washing machine is not using enough water to keep the P-trap full. This problem sometimes happens with high-efficiency washing machines. If this is the source of the issue, talk to your plumber about it.
Finally, other possible causes of bad odors in your laundry room include: a vent pipe that has stopped working because it is clogged with bird/insect nests, pine needles, leaves, or moss; a gas dryer leak (though highly unlikely, it is still a possibility); a break in nearby drainage pipes or even in your sewer line.
After you have checked all the potential causes of laundry room odors listed above and followed the steps to solve the problem, if the issue still persists, your next step should be to have a professional plumber perform a thorough inspection of your laundry room or even your entire plumbing system.