Strange Smell in Master Bath???

i agree with the suggestion to fish down in the drain and see if you've got one of those big honkin' slimy hairballs. those bad boys are nasty.
flush all drains with baking soda, followed by vinegar, followed by lots and lots of really hot water.
if the smell is still there, it's time to take a peek behind the tub and into the walls.
good luck!
khiarete
S.

It's probably the drain. This happens in bathrooms that get a lot of use, clogs start to smell a little. I usually put a little bleach down all the drains in the master bath in our house (i.e. sink, shower, even the toilet)...it clears it right up.

Start with the drains. Im not sure if a mold could have a sweet smell. I have heard musty, but never sweet. But have no experience in that department. Although standing water that's building up mold on the water can smell very odd. So definitely start w/ the drains.

If you snake and clean the drains and that isn't it try:
1. replacing the wax seal around the toilet
2. check for moisture in the floor (pier and beam, go under the house, slab ?? may have to pull up some tile. Second floor - use a moisture measure tool before pulling down the ceiling)
3. you didn't mention if you have carpet or tile in your bathroom? If carpet, pull it. it could be that.
I know what you are talking about re: fitting. Typically (unless it got cracked) it shouldn't grow mold between, but if you do see a fissure crack, check it out.

good luck.

When you say sweet gross, I think of decomposing mouse. Do you think one might be in your bathroom wall somewhere?

My house has 4 bathrooms ... Master ..used daily ( everything except spa tub, guest toilet only, guest upstairs hardly ever, daughters room no more use since she moved last month)

We've learned that you need to regularly run water through the system in order to keep any odor out, especially downstairs guest bath.

I don't know if it has any effect on you but I went to shower in guest downstairs and found no hot water, I moved to guest upstairs to no hot water, and in the end... Only had hot water in master shower and spa and upstairs daughters room... Which were the only 2 areas used regularly!

There was a calcium buildup in the areas we never use which resulted in an odor. Now, we make sure to run each guest bath, shower, toilet regularly to keep the flow correctly.

Never an issue in master bath and our tub and shower are separate.

I now routinely will run hot water thru the extra 3 bath areas and go flush occasionally.

Hope that has some help.

Large numbers of bugs (ie tiny beetles) can smell sweet, something about their glands all clumped together. Maybe there are bugs in the walls?

On a happier note, large numbers of gumdrops smell sweet all clumped together too.

So my guess is that your bathroom walls contain either a bunch of bugs or a bunch of gumdrops.

Is it possible to sniff around, and see WHERE in the bathroom the scent is the strongest?

I remember one year, we had a funky smell in the bathroom. We sniffed it to the drain. My dad fished out a HUGE wad of hair, that was completely slimy and covered in shampoo and conditioner slime. ICK. It stank, too. After he got rid of it, the smell went away.

The last rental we stayed in had a major mold problem, and we never noticed any smell associated with it. (It was the toxic black mold, and he wound up getting slammed with huge fines for refusing to get it taken care of while we were living there.)

I have also lived in a place when I was a kid that had a different kind of mold... And mushrooms growing under the sink. Lol. No smell there, either.

You might also check the heating/AC vent if there is one in that room. Maybe there is something in there, that can stink up the room it's in, but doesn't have the stink power to travel to other rooms.

Try to sniff it out. If you can't find anything, maybe look into having a general home inspector come check out the room.

I'm with Marie. Check the drains. Every once in a while I unscrew the drain cover in our shower (no tub, just marble tile floors with a mesh drain cover in the center) and use one of those 'as seen on TV' wand thingees to pull out gobs of..... well... gunk. And trust me, it smells. And there is no back-up issue with the water or anything...

So, maybe it has just been a very long time (if ever?) that the drain has been cleared of gunk...

Start with the drains, because it's the cheapest and easiest. I'm pretty anti-bleach because they are bad for the environment and cause nerve damage in humans. Besides, they disinfect but don't clear clogs, and they just replace the odor you smell with another one. You can google "natural drain cleaners" and will get a recipe for something like baking soda and vinegar and that sort of thing. (Be careful that things can be combined safely. Using ammonia by itself is safe, but with other things it releases harmful fumes. Until you know what you've got down the drain, be cautious.)

Usually in the shower drains there is an accumulation of hair, soap scum, skin cells and so on. If a cleaner doesn't work, you can snake the drain and remove what's down there, then repeat with a deodorizer like vinegar and baking soda. Between the foaming action when certain household products are combined, and the deodorizing factor, you should get rid of things.

The sink is also a possibility - hair and soap scum and skin cells (particularly if men are shaving in that sink, which exfoliates skin cells mixed in with shaving foam) can accumulate. Remedies are the same as shower drains.

Also look around the back and sides of the toilet. Condensation can occur due to the difference in the room temperature and the cold surface of the toilet tank holding water from the cooler basement or underground pipes. If you shut off the water, the toilet can be pulled away from the wall by an amateur but you have to know what you're doing.

And the solution is only temporary for all of the above. Bathrooms are wet, moist places.

It's good that you dealt with the fan. Also, does it vent to the outside, or into the attic? You could have something in the attic itself or in the duct work that is wafting back into the bathroom. There are companies that specialize in cleaning ducts out.

A dead mouse is possible, but that smell does not continue over a long period of time. It's worth looking for though. Look inside the vanity for holes into the wall - they can be very small and little more than cracks. The presence of mouse droppings is another clue.

If the tub is a bathfitter, you mean that it was installed over an older installed tub and tile, right? If it was installed over any moist tile, or if the seal is not perfect and water has seemed in between the 2 layers, you could have mold. There are many kinds of mold and mildew, many colors (brown, yellow, green, white), and many smells.

There are home tests for mold you can buy in any large hardware store. As for who to call, you can start with a plumber or a contractor who specializes in bathrooms. They deal with mold all the time.

Mold can be a problem for people with allergies and asthma, and because it appears in moist areas, it can eventually rot through the sheetrock that's behind the tub surround. Having it all torn out is definitely an expense but start with the drain issue and see where that leads you.

1. buy a strong drain cleaner at the hardware store, explain your problem, and follow their advice. I use drain cleaner about every other month in both baths since my kids have long hair and my husband is "furry". I also have one of those plastic "hats" on the drain to catch as many hairs from going down the drain. But a good gel based drain cleaner will dissolve hair.
2. if that does not solve the problem have a plumber come check the ventilation on your plumbing. If it is a sewer gas or poop type smell, then the ventilation on the water system may not be correct.
3. is the water level high enough in your toilets? if the water is low, it could be open to the septic/sewer. this happens in old houses a lot where the floors are not completely level.
4. we live outside 495 near Lowell and around here our water is very hard and has many minerals dissolved in them as well as some gasses come up from our wells through the pipes. You may need a whole-house water filter.
5. we have an orchard nearby and have lots of problems with bee and wasp nests in between floor joists in the basement (they came in through the AC water tube leading to the outside) or in the attic (they came in via the ridge vents). A big active bug infestation like that sounded like mice nibbling so I would imagine if you had lots of bugs in the walls you would be able to hear them if you stood in your bathroom in the middle of a quiet night.
A good plumber should be able to inspect your home and give you advice regarding what the smell is. If (s)he does not know, then look for a local handy man who does many jobs and that person might be able to pinpoint the smell to a wall or floor before ripping out a perfectly good bath. We have had a dead mouse in the wall and it smells so bad is makes you gag, not just a nice sweet smell.
I assume you had the house inspected before you bought it and nothing was noted? Can you call the previous owner and ask? Good luck.

I too would start with the drains. Use some baking soda and vinegar first with a snake to clear out any small clogs, you may need something stronger like draino. There could also be a leak from the toilet where the wax ring is and mold could be growing under the base.

As long as there are no cracks in the shower insert there shouldn't be any mold back there. The one piece showers and tubs are nice just for that reason.

If you have any windows in the bathroom I would check around them as well for leaks from rain water.