Dreadful smell of poo from next door

[nauseated]

The problem started in Oct 2018 and has been going on ever since. It started with what smelled like rancid meat or fat being heated. It was so bad in the back bedroom of the house where I usually sleep I had to open the window and keep it open open all night even though it was cold. Since then the smell is overwhelmingly of poo. It starts anytime during the day or night, but tends to be worse at night. There tends to be no smell when next door are out during the day. Sometimes the smell at night is so bad it wakes me up, and several times I've had to go and sleep in another bedroom. At its worse it smells like you are in a room with a toilet which has just been used but not flushed. The smell is just as bad in the back living room of my house which is immediately below the back bedroom. I don't share any drains with next door and they have a separate manhole to the one for my house. I've lived in the same house for over 30 years and have never had even cooking smells from next door, but I have been told that the back wall of both houses (semi-detached) is a cavity wall, and that the smell from next door may be being vented into the cavity. Next door had a sewer flood about 3 years ago, after their manhole was blocked with tarmac from nearby roadworks. They clearly had drainage problems after this and were continually sluicing out the outside area of the house near where the soil pipe is situated. Then in 2017 a drainage company spent several days at the property carrying out some sort of repairs. I suspect that this didn't remedy the problem and that some other 'solution' has been introduced, but what it is exactly I don't know. It appears to be something that is switched on and off. I'm retired and now spend a lot more time at home so having to contend with the nauseating smell from next door is awful. Next door has been un-occupied between Christmas and New Year and there has been no smell, but it's back today (New Year's Day) with a vengeance. The other complicating factor here is that I am not on good terms with next door and can't ask what is going on. I've been told I can talk to environmental health about the problem and ask them to investigate, but I know that if I do this will only cause more friction with next door. I'd first like to try to establish what drainage 'solution' next door are using, how the smell is getting into my property, and if there are any steps I can take to stop it.

 

[Scott_D]

Are you sure it’s from next door and not your own drains?

 

[SimonG]

Get a drain company out and camera your drains. Take it from there.

 

[Scott_D]

Are your soil & vent pipes internal or external?

 

[SimonG]

Don't you just love a good auto correct

 

[Scott_D]

Don't you just love a good auto correct

I edited it

 

[SimonG]

I edited it

Damn

 

[snowhead]

If something is switching on and off it seems like they might have had a Saniflo macerator, or similar, fitted to overcome the failed drain.
I wonder if that's dumping into an open gulley at the back of the house.

 

[rpm]

If something is switching on and off it seems like they might have had a Saniflo macerator, or similar, fitted to overcome the failed drain.
I wonder if that's dumping into an open gulley at the back of the house.

Wouldn`t be the first time one is hooked up to open drains.

 

[nauseated]

Are you sure it’s from next door and not your own drains?

Are you sure it’s from next door and not your own drains?

I've not got any problems with my loo or other waste water leaving the property and the smell isn't in my toilet or bathroom. I know that's not proof, but I think you know if a really bad odour is coming from your property or from next door. Plus I'm here most of the time, using the loo, shower, washer etc and there's usually no smell, or only a faint smell, unless the people next door are in. I don't share any drains with next door, and every so often there is also a really strong smell of toilet cleaner, smells like lemon zest, which I don't use.

 

[rpm]

Call enviromental health in regardless of upsetting anybody.

 

[nauseated]

Get a drain company out and camera your drains. Take it from there.

I know the problem doesn't lie with me for reasons I've already stated so I know that wouldn't take me any further. We don't share any drains and manholes are also completely separate.

 

[nauseated]

Are your soil & vent pipes internal or external?

The soil pipe is external.

 

[SimonG]

I know the problem doesn't lie with me for reasons I've already stated so I know that wouldn't take me any further. We don't share any drains and manholes are also completely separate.

You don't actually know where the smell is coming from and as you have had diagnosis work done you're just pittling in the wind.

In this situation you get evidence that your drains are fine, if that's the case then you can go to environmental health and your neighbour.

If my neighbour came to me with the same story as you have it would be a case of, sorry I don't have a problem, must be yours. Whereas if they came with the story and evidence that there was no issue on your side then I would want to get to the bottom of it. Not only from the smell side but also the damage that could be going on underground.

Was the bad terms with your neighbour of your making? If so then you better start building bridges because I can only see a joint effort to get it sorted.

 

[nauseated]

If something is switching on and off it seems like they might have had a Saniflo macerator, or similar, fitted to overcome the failed drain.
I wonder if that's dumping into an open gulley at the back of the house.

I wondered if some sort of unit had been installed which can be switched on and off, as that would explain the intermittent nature of the smell, and the fact that there is no smell, or little smell, when no one's in, and the unit is presumably switched off.

Can you explain what a macerator is and why it might be needed?