Dealing with Plumbing Odors Around Your Home

Freshen Your Kitchen

How to Get Rid of Garbage Disposal Smells

To deodorize your kitchen garbage disposal, you can use ice cubes and lemon peels. The hard ice helps push through any residual food chucks and the lemon provides mild cleaning and fresh scent.

Freshen Your Bathroom

How to Get Rid of Smelly Drains

If you notice a sewer smell in your bathroom, you more than likely aren’t using that space often enough. Every drain has a bend in the piping called a trap, or “p trap,” to allow water to collect. This collection area prevents sewer gases, or odors, from leaking out into the air.

If the drain goes unused for a while, the water in the trap can evaporate, and the sewer odors become free to permeate the bathroom. The trap water is especially prone to drying up during cold, dry winter months when the air is less humid.

To eliminate the smell coming from your bathroom drains, try turning on the shower or faucet and letting the water run for a while.

Freshen Your Basement or Utility Room

How to Get Rid of Smelly Floor Drains

If your basement, garage or utility floor drain smells like mildew or sewage, try pouring a gallon of water into it. Just like bathroom drains, these drains have bends in the piping called a trap. The purpose of the trap is to collect water to serve as a barrier against foul odors. If your drain smells, the trap may have dried out. So, pouring a gallon of water down the drain may help to replenish the trap.

Prevent Future Plumbing Odors

Want to avoid dealing with odors again? In addition to ensuring that your traps don’t go dry, we recommend regularly cleaning your pipes with a natural, biological-based cleanser. The cleanser will break down organic matter like fats, oils and grease, and help to dissolve clogs. Use the cleanser on kitchen and bathroom sinks, tubs, showers, toilets or floor drains.

Choosing the right cleaning solution is extremely important. We do not recommend traditional acid-based drain cleaners commonly sold in stores, as these can corrode pipes and cause more harm.

Contact Kobella if you are interested in our bio-based drain cleaner and drain cleaning services. We’re also happy to answer any general questions you may have about bathroom or kitchen plumbing maintenance.