I live directly above the shared laundry room in a 12-unit townhouse apartment. Ever since the building got a new top-loading washing machine, the smell of laundry detergent has become really noticeable in my apartment.We installed vapor barrier sheets on the laundry room ceiling, which helped for a while, but the smell has gradually come back and is now quite strong again. I also have an air purifier running down there, but it hasn't made much difference.A plumber checked the drain and said everything looks fine. What's strange is that it only happens with certain loads. My guess is that it's related to how much detergent people use, or whether they're using fabric softener.Has anyone dealt with something like this before? If so, what ended up being the cause, and how was it fixed?I'm not a plumber, but at this point I'm almost tempted to start tracing the brand-new drain piping myself just to figure out where the smell is coming from.
Why are you so sure it's the drain and not the vent? A vent blockage that causes backdraft into your room makes more sense to me.
>>3001919How would I fix that? Do you mean the smell is going up into the drains in my bathroom etc?
>>3001946No, I mean the air ventilation. All floors are connected to the same chimney, and by design the air from every apartment and the basement flows all the way up and through the roof. If there's a blockage above your floor, the air uses your apartment to escape, drawing the smells from the basement into your room. Check your air vents to see if they have the air flow and if it's in the right direction.
>>3001918The apartments probably use a shared vent duct for the dryer vents. I would assume the smell is coming back in from your dryer's vent.If you start to smell someone's detergent, open your dryer and stick your head in and give it a smell---it's almost certainly feeding back into your unit from the shared duct.
