Steve Maxwell regularly answers reader questions about home improvement issues: This time around he focuses on the bathroom – how to get rid of a stinky drain and how to caulk a bathtub.
The stinky drain issue
Q: How can I get rid of the sulphur smell coming from our sink and bathtub drains? We brought in a plumber to investigate but all he suggested is to get our air circulation system cleaned. The problem first surfaced after one of our bathrooms was renovated.
A: There’s a slim chance the source of the odour could be improper pipe installation that’s allowing sewer gas to enter your home, but there’s a more common cause that I see from time to time.
It’s not unusual for microbe colonies to build up in the traps of drains. This can cause odours exactly as you describe. Traps are an area of bent pipe that holds water to stop sewer gases from entering a building. Assuming your new bathtub and sink were installed with proper traps (it would be unlikely that you have bad traps), you probably can get relief with hydrogen peroxide.
Pour a half bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide in each drain before bed time. If you have a sink with a built-in overflow passage (many bathroom sinks are made this way), pour more peroxide down this passage, too.
This is the ordinary stuff available at any drug store and I’ve seen it work in many cases, including my own house. If the hydrogen peroxide is going to work, there should be immediate results the morning after application.
The nice thing about hydrogen peroxide is that it’s so safe. After it has finished foaming in your drain, it simply breaks down into water and oxygen. What could be safer than that?
Post script: After answering this reader’s question, she got back to me and explained that the hydrogen peroxide treatment didn’t work so they had a different plumber come in.
As rare as it is, the recent bathroom renovation did, in fact, include an improperly installed bathtub drain trap. The source of the odour in this case was sewer gases entering the home because the trap wasn’t preventing it.
Hydrogen peroxide is still a great choice for the vast majority of cases where a bad trap is not the problem.
Caulking a bathtub
Q: It’s time to recaulk our bathtub. What’s the best kind of caulking to use?
A: When it comes to how to caulk a bathtub, there’s really only one option in my experience. You want some real silicone (the kind that smells like vinegar), not some “siliconized” this or that.
You also want to get stuff that’s specifically rated for bathtubs. These have anti-mildew protection built right in.
GE makes some nice bathtub silicones. I’d stay away from low odour formulations. I’ve never seen a low-odour version of anything that worked as well as the high-odour formulations. Just leave the exhaust fan on while you work.
A clean slate
The real trick to re-caulking success isn’t just the caulking you choose. It’s also about removing ALL the old caulking cleanly first.
There have been products on store shelves for this purpose on and off for years, but there is no magic bullet that I’ve found. 3M makes a product that’s pretty good, but you’ll still need to do plenty of scraping.
Start with a putty knife. Depending on how that goes, you might want to buy one of those caulking scraper kits that have a bunch of different shapes of scrapers.
When everything is free of caulking, clean the area well with rubbing alcohol on a rag. The worst thing for a new caulking job is to lay it down over a residue of caulking remover.
Getting crisp edges
Before you apply the new caulking, run a length of masking tape down each side of the corner of the joint, about 3/16 of an inch (5 mm) away from the point.
To ensure the weight of water in the tub won’t cause the tub to settle slightly lower on the wall, which would damage the new caulking joint, fill the tub to a good level with water, then apply the caulking and leave the water in until the caulking has completely hardened.
Once you’ve applied your bead of caulking, you’ll need to smooth it out. Use your finger, wetting it with a solution of 70% water and 30% dishwashing liquid. This will keep the caulking from sticking to your finger and let you do a smoother job.
Have some paper towels ready in case excess caulking gets scraped off the joint by your finger as you work. As soon as the smoothing is done, peel off the tape and you’ll have perfect edges on your new beads of caulking.
Let everything dry for two days before using the bathtub, and give it a week before wiping the caulking to dry the tub or clean it.
To see this masking tape tip in action, check out this video. It’s part of a larger video about masking tapes used for painting. Go to 2:40 on the video if you want to skip right to the caulking section.
Got a question for Steve? You can ask him here (scroll to the end).
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