It's probably not the Chinese drywall; most of that came into the country after Hurricane Katrina, which was after your house was built.
We had dead rodents in the wall; smelled like rotted garbage. Definitely went on for more than 10 days. Husband found the spot they entered in the garage and tore up the drywall to retrieve them. It can take months for the smell to dissapate if you don't find the rodents.
If it smells like sewer gas, look at the vent pipes on your roof. We have had problems with that from time to time in our downstair bathroom, even though it is used regularly. I think it happens when the vent pipes dry out, mostly in hot, dry weather. My husband took a hose up to the roof and ran water down those pipes and it cleared up the smell.
OK, I probably have the strangest possibility for you :o). We have a room that has smelled for years - usually worse in warm or wet weather. Like you, we had a plumber and pest guy come out and found nothing. We removed the carpet, painted the concrete floor, got new pad and carpet, etc. Nothing seemed to work. Then, we were removing all the shrubs from the beds in front of that room and found a large snake. Come to find out, snakes have a VERY smelly gooey defense mechanism! After the shrubs were gone (along with the large snake) we hardly ever have that smell any more. I live on 3 acres and know there are still some snakes, so I have smelled something similar but nothing like it used to be when he lived under the window to that room.
I know exactly what you are going through!!!! We have a new home as well, built in 06. When it began to warm up the spring of 07 we had a horrible smell coming from our master bedroom. I was pregnant and was unable to sleep in there...it was awful!!! After much of the same exploration you have done, we found that when they built our house a nail went through the sewer vent pipe. It would leak out the sewer gas and smell horrible. I would suggest you have a plumber out to see if he can scope it and see if there are any punctures in the pipe. It took a plumber 3 tries to find ours, but once they did and replaced the pipe the smell is gone! Good luck.
I hope someone has a great answer for you other than having to rip out your dry wall. However, if you indeed do have to pull out the dry wall I recently contracted with a great guy. He pulled out the full wall panneling in our living room and replaced with drywall. He has done several jobs for us and he is always the lowest bid.
I hope you dont need him but just in case Len Vinsko 972-238-5126.
Good luck!
It could be a million different things and this is one of them. My dad is a plumber, so I grew up hearing about vents and cleanouts, etc. The plumbing in the bathroom has to be vented up to the roof, but sometimes it isn't done correctly and sewer gas is released into areas of the home. You could probably crawl into your attic and see if the smell is coming from any of the pipes up there. Also, if you end up ripping out the wall, you might find that one of the pipes just ends in the wall and the gas is coming out of there. I do hope you find what it is!
get a second opinion from a plumber. rip up the carpet. could be that the previous owners had a pet that utilized the area for his bathroom. good luck.
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we have had a dead mouse in the wall and the odor was gone over night. Good luck
Janet G
Do you have a septic system? Sometimes higher air pressure when it is windy out can force sewage gas smells back into the house. Drains should have what is called a P trap to keep this gas from entering the home. This trap is a simple water barrier formed in a crook in the pipe visible under each sink. If it dries out, gas can get past. Sometimes even tiny sewer flies that live in the septic tank and sewage lines can get into the house. Shower stalls are often the problem because the P trap in the shower drain isn’t as good especially if that shower isn’t used often and dries out. With no water in the trap, gas flows by easily. Each toilet needs to have a vent pipe that goes up and through the roof to let out sewage gas. If this pipe gets closed off by insects or birds, that could cause problems. If this vent pipe is closed, the gas can come out of a sink drain or shower drain. Even the drain system for a bath tub can cause trouble. The place where you open and close the tub drain is connected to the drain line so if the tub faucet is left on by accident, the water will flow down through that fixture and drain away so the tub won’t overflow. Gas could possible come out there. You will need to sniff around to find the source. Then, get it fixed. Good luck.
One last thought. I know a plumber that told me he had a similar problem in a client’s house. As it tutned out, the builder that built the house never finished a vent pipe for a toilet. It came up through the wall and ended in the attic and just vented right into the attic space. The builder should have cut through the roof and continued the pipe through to the outside. My friend did that and the problem was solved.