Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Miraculous solution, anyone??

Ok, so a little while back, we had a drainage issue in our upstairs bathroom, off our bedroom (you now know the extent of my 2nd floor). The shower got completely clogged up, and there was water standing in the shower stall for several days until the man our landlord hired finally arrived to fix it. Soon after the fix-it man drained out all the water, an absolutely terrible odor developed. WE assumed something left over from the standing water was the cause. Within the first few days of this odor developing, I cleaned the shower with my all-purpose lemon scented disinfectant. Each time, it seemed better, but by the end of the day, the odor was obviously making a comeback. So we bought a small bottle of chlorinated bleach. I used that all up by cleaning the shower a total of 4 times over a couple of days, varying the intensity of the solutions I used and the amount of time I left it before rinsing (the last time, I used ir straight out of the bottle.) EAch time, it seemed better, but by the next morning, the ordor had returned. I need some new approaches here.

The trouble is that the smell is absolutely awful for my pregnant nose and stomach. So it may very well be that is just needs someone to take the time to scrub really thoroughly with the bleach, but I don´t think I can stand to be in there that long. And my husband is never home long enough to tackle such a job (literally - it would mean not sleeping or something). Those unavoidable-because-I-am-pregnant middle of the night bathroom runs? I first cover my nose with a tissue, clamp it closed, and take a deep breath all before entering the bathroom, then get out as quick as I can and don´t unclamp my nose until I am several feet away from the closed door. Last night, I made my husband switch places with me - I usually sleep on the side closer to the bathroom, but was sure I could smell it from bed.

But I feel like 2 rounds of disinfectant and 4 rounds of bleach should have killed anything. I don´t want to even consider the whole long period of serious scrubbing unless I have a fool-proof method in hand.

So, anyone have a miraculous solution for me??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is not a long-term solution but... in Africa, we had the same prob with our shower drain - terrible sewage odor would come out of it. so we kept a plunger over the drain - as long as the plunger is large enough to cover the hole you can seal out the smell. of course when you shower, you have to move the plunger so you smell it then, but it helped stop the odor at other times :) for a long term solution, i think maybe you need a plumber? good luck.
~k

Anonymous said...

That was my thought too, that it may be coming from the drain instead of residue on the floor. Do they have any super potent drain cleaning products there?

On another note, simply pray. That was my #1 household problem solution when I had no money in FL. It kept my fridge running for a couple of years after it broke down.

Tabitha