Raising another stink

When I got home last Sunday evening I noticed a bit of an odd smell in the house. It didn't smell like something urgent (like ripe trash can or fire) so, meticulous house cleaner that I'm not, I did my usual evening thing.

I found the source of the odor Monday morning when I went to the basement to do laundry. There was dirt on the floor and quite a bit around the floor drain in the laundry area. The drain had backed up, covering some areas with as much as an inch, though the water had receded. I had to think about recent storms and later figured out it must have been Thursday evening.

Two years ago in August I dealt with a disastrous basement flood, the story related here, here, and here. At the time, Charlie, my home improvement guy, suggested I get the drain snaked every four or five years to clean out roots. It looks like I'll have to do it every two years.

I mopped part of the floor Monday morning. It was slow going because the muck had dried. Charlie showed up before noon. He said he would call Larry, the plumbing guy, and have the drain snaked in the next day or two. He even suggested his wife clean the floor (no, this isn't sexist, she's an integral part of his crew and she wasn't going to do it for free). So I didn't resume my mopping.

But Charlie was delayed with a big job and probably Larry too. He said he couldn't come until Friday. In the meantime the house odor seemed to be getting stronger. So I mopped some more Wednesday morning and this evening I tackled the area around the drain. That was so bad I'll have to go over it again.

In contrast to last time, the only damage was a rust colored stain near the drain. Everything else is off the floor or the water didn't reach that far.