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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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 Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject: My villa smells terrible- Suggestions |
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I recently moved into a villa and it smells terrible. The low grade smell is coming from the drain pipes in the bathroom and wash room.
How can I solve this problem? |
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Sleepy in Seoul
Joined: 15 May 2004
Location: Going in ever decreasing circles until I eventually disappear up my own fundament - in NZ
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| The laziest solution is to cover the sink in the kitchen at night or when you go out, and close the bathroom door. It doesn't fix the problem, but does make it a little less noticeable. I have been reliably informed that dumping a bottle of bleach down the drains will cure the smell, but I haven't tried that one yet. |
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Demonicat
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| This helped me a bit. At your local grocery store they have these new things that go in your sink drains- they are plastic circles. Well, what they are is bleach packs, so everytime you run water you get a shot of bleach through the pipes. Works quite well, but getting out the sins of 1000 Kimchi dinners washed down the drain will be hard. |
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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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I'll try all of your suggestions. Thanks!
Have a great weekend! |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I have had this problem several times. The smell will be coming out of the sink drain, not the shower drain in the bathroom. Plug the sink drain with a rag, move the pipe and allow your bathroom sink to drain onto the floor along with the water when you shower. It's drastic but it works, I swear. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject: Re: My villa smells terrible- Suggestions |
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| The Hammer wrote: |
I recently moved into a villa and it smells terrible. The low grade smell is coming from the drain pipes in the bathroom and wash room.
How can I solve this problem? |
Hammer, if misery loves company, it may please you to know you're not alone. Nasty Drain StinkTM is Korea's equal-opportunity offender, and I've seen/smelt a 7-million-won/month villa that had the same problem you do. (yeah... 7,000,000 won rent PER MONTH, and the place STILL smells like a septic tank!?  )
As for why this problem is so prevalent in Korea, even in newly built apartments/villas.... trust me, you don't wanna know. 
So, short of tearing out and re-doing the plumbing for the entire building, here are some quick & easy make-do solutions you might try.
In the bathroom, is the odor coming from all the drains (shower or tub, floor, sink)? Or just the floor? The sink drain pipes (kitchen and lavatory) should all have "P" or "S" traps like you see back home, so there shouldn't be any nasty smells coming there. But keep the plunger down anyway.
With the floor drains, who knows what they've done down there. But you'll see a metal hair-trap covering the drain which you can pry out, plug with a specially made rubber stopper, or a tightly wadded vinyl bag (big enough so it won't slip down the pipe). Just replace the metal filter and you're done. You only need to remove the trap & plug (or bag) while you clean the bathroom floor, and then replace it. Do the same with the shower drain, and if you have a tub, get a rubber stopper for that drain.
This won't kill the odour immediately. But do that, scrub down the surfaces with a commercial tile cleaning solvent, and use a basin cleanser on the sink & toilet once a .... week? Stick up a Glade solid air freshener (or put out some fresh cut flowers & a cented candle... typical date preparation) and you should be up to Code.
The "wash room"... is this on the veranda? Aren't there sliding, windowed doors that you can close to isolate this "room" from the rest of your home? I'm picturing a titled landing out on the veranda, but I'm not sure. Yes, they have drains... but I'm thinking "big, black floor to ceiling drains" where you can hear the deluge from upper floors whenever they do the laundry. Maybe a photo of this would help. Anyway, I don't know what to suggest here. |
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jinglejangle
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Location: Far far far away.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 7:52 am Post subject: |
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I would definately try a bottle of bleach down the offending drains.
Also, if you are at all inclined towards scents, I would find an incense that you like. Be careful if you are a religious exclusionist, you may want to make sure that scent isn't dedicated to some spirit/god/whatever.
Also, that may go over well with Koreans. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 8:21 am Post subject: |
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Whenever I lit incense they said it was creepy, since it's usually only used around dead people...  |
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superhal
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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| we just scrubbed the screens and filters and the smell went away, so maybe our pipes weren't as bad. |
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jinglejangle
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Location: Far far far away.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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| ahhhh..thanks for the warning |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
I would definately try a bottle of bleach down the offending drains.
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yup bleach works wonders on killing the molds and mildews that grow and create those wonderful smells. In summer I usually flush the drains out with bleach solution twice a month |
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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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I wonder if I could get all the people in my building to have a bleach the pipes party.
We could all synchronize our pouring times. Im sure their houses must stink too. |
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Keepongoing
Joined: 13 Feb 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:25 pm Post subject: Lysol |
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Lysol  |
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inkoreaforgood
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Location: Inchon
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| Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:38 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Whenever I lit incense they said it was creepy, since it's usually only used around dead people... |
Perhaps the smell is similar enough that he needs to use the incense.  |
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Derrek
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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I don't cook.
One day, I got all horny for M&M cookies. I bought the ingredients and decided to try to make some in my toaster oven. I burned the heck out of a few, then took a bite to try. They were HORRIBLE! I bought the wrong kind of sugar, and got some terrible stuff called, "New Sugar" instead. YUCK!
I dumped the whole batch of raw dough down the drain. Not smart, but I did. Within a few days, the drains had a horrible stench. No amount of water/bleach/etc., would clear it out.
I noticed within a few more days that they brought a special truck over to clean out the septic system or something (I assume it was a septic system) and the smell was gone the next day. I must have stunk up the whole building!
Maybe they can do the same for your buidling. I was living in Seoul at the time. |
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