Bathroom smell / Centipedes

[Golden Triangle]

Everytime we have heavy rain we get a nasty smell in the en-suite bathroom and inundated with baby Centipedes, I had a largish one chase me around the shower recently until the mrs came to my rescue with some Chaindrite spray, that sorted the buggar out ????

 

So far we've despatched loads of the little blighters but today we've had more heavy rain & lo & behold in the bathroom a nasty smell and a lot larger one appeared photo to be added in a mo, we have very little problem in the other bathroom, no smell no nothing, the kitchen sink and another sink at the very back no strange smells, I need to know if this caused by a missing seal in our bathroom allowing the smell & Centipedes to get into the bathroom, thanks for any help or advice as I need to speak to the landlady to get this sorted. Many thanks GT.

 

 

[RafPinto]

Have you checked if you didn't leave any dirty underwear somewhere?

[MRToMRT]

Probably no U trap on your shower drain pipe. My bathroom is same.

[Artisi]

8 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Probably no U trap on your shower drain pipe. My bathroom is same.

Luckily there are now a few options to cure that problem, look a Lazada or similar for inserts that fit into the floor waste to overcome the smell coming in from the waste pipe. 

[Golden Triangle]

24 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Have you checked if you didn't leave any dirty underwear somewhere?

I don't wear skiddies - underwear. ????

[Golden Triangle]

But all the babies we've found have been behind the toilet including an adult a few weeks back. Thanks for the help so far.

[Artisi]

First up you need to locate from where the smell is coming from, floor waste or from under the toilet pan. 

[sezze]

6 minutes ago, Artisi said:

First up you need to locate from where the smell is coming from, floor waste or from under the toilet pan. 

And then fix all gaps , centipedes do not like to stay in the open . They like to stay under stones ( a tile...) , leaves , cracks ( regrouting tiles?) . If it is a lacking U-trap , there are ways to fix it , but 1st check where the problem comes from . My personal guess , tiles are laid in cement bed , leaving openings underneath , the perfect spot for centipedes , possibly even with a connection to outside ( next to the drainage pipe from toilet or from shower ) . When it rains , the ground gets wet , forcing the centipedes to come up and also leaving a bad small from standing small pools of water under the affected tiles .

[Golden Triangle]

We have a plastic food bag half full of water over the drain in the shower, that only comes off when either of us are using the shower & goes straight back on when we have finished, that is mainly to stop the Centipedes but I would have thought will also keep the smell down, my suspicion is still a lack of a seal between the toilet and foul pipe below it.

[sezze]

7 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

We have a plastic food bag half full of water over the drain in the shower, that only comes off when either of us are using the shower & goes straight back on when we have finished, that is mainly to stop the Centipedes but I would have thought will also keep the smell down, my suspicion is still a lack of a seal between the toilet and foul pipe below it.

Yep , same guess . If it is there , silicone around the drain , and regrouting , and check for loose tiles .

[Golden Triangle]

12 minutes ago, sezze said:

Yep , same guess . If it is there , silicone around the drain , and regrouting , and check for loose tiles .

I'll need to speak to the landlady, I don't mind paying for her maintenance guys to come and look at the problem, it's a real pain as I'm in the loo a few times a night, I rarely put the light on, wouldn't want to get bitten at 2 or 4 a.m. 

[Artisi]

10 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

I'll need to speak to the landlady, I don't mind paying for her maintenance guys to come and look at the problem, it's a real pain as I'm in the loo a few times a night, I rarely put the light on, wouldn't want to get bitten at 2 or 4 a.m. 

Mauled to death during the night sitting on the loo by man eating millipedes, what a terrible way to end your life. 

[Golden Triangle]

2 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Mauled to death during the night sitting on the loo by man eating millipedes, what a terrible way to end your life. 

Centipedes dear boy, Centipedes.

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

I don't wear skiddies - underwear. ????

Then as a "commando" you should be able to deal with a centipede.. 

[thailand49]

From my own experience.  Like everyone you have a septic tank most likely cement when it rains it fills up ( you don't want the details as to what is going on around those tanks ) in your shower drain underneath the screen should be a flap ( as another poster said P-trap ) this keeps the smell out and the bugs from coming in it might be missing.

 

You can't buy these traps at Home-pro, DIY, etc.. cost is very cheap you can buy one that drops over the current unit just by taking removing the top screen.

 

I found this out a while back since I was having the same problem purchased problem greatly reduced.  Those so call centipedes with all those legs are nothing to sneeze about told if bitten can cause some deadly results?  They don't turn into butterflies.

[Golden Triangle]

8 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

From my own experience.  Like everyone you have a septic tank most likely cement when it rains it fills up ( you don't want the details as to what is going on around those tanks ) in your shower drain underneath the screen should be a flap ( as another poster said P-trap ) this keeps the smell out and the bugs from coming in it might be missing.

 

You can't buy these traps at Home-pro, DIY, etc.. cost is very cheap you can buy one that drops over the current unit just by taking removing the top screen.

 

I found this out a while back since I was having the same problem purchased problem greatly reduced.  Those so call centipedes with all those legs are nothing to sneeze about told if bitten can cause some deadly results?  They don't turn into butterflies.

I just googled p trap but only really found what we in the UK would call a u bend, would you happen to have a picture of what you posted about, sorry to be a pain but fitting a u bend would require digging the shower floor up and you said it just goes under the drain cover. Thanks.

[superal]

13 hours ago, Artisi said:

Luckily there are now a few options to cure that problem, look a Lazada or similar for inserts that fit into the floor waste to overcome the smell coming in from the waste pipe. 

A link would be helpful , especially for the unskilled d.i.y. er but thanks anyway

[LarrySR]

Flooding the room with a strong mixture of water and bleach might discourage the bugs. 

At least you don't have Cobras lurking in the toilet. (Google it) YIKES!

[lopburi3]

14 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Probably no U trap on your shower drain pipe. My bathroom is same.

U traps are not normal for floor drains in Thailand.  What there should be is a drain like below - which if full of trash or no water (or as all too often not installed) allows entry of smells or critters from below.

 

 

[transam]

I replaced the shower drain with one that has a trap door, it opens with the water weight and remains closed at all other times. No bugs, no smell...

 

All made from stainless steel and way better than the ones that rely on water seal.....

[Kenny202]

I had the same problem re Centipedes. I am terrified of them. Supposed to be excrutiatingly painful if bitten and I believe they have 2 sets of pincers. One to lock onto you and the other to bite and inject venom. I read somewhere if one gets on you, you are meant to brush it upwards not down. I don't know if I'd have the presence of mind.

 

One thing I did which fixed the problem 90% was to re grout as others have suggested. They definitely live in and come out of the drain hole but they love to live under the tiles. Make sure your drain hole has an insert that fits tight but can be removed. if you live with a Thai woman I don't know how you would be able to grout in a drain insert, the hair that gets caught in them has to be removed daily.

 

As far as them being more prevalent when wet yes for sure, but I am not sure it is the rain itself. I now think when it is raining and cooler, we turn our hot water on more as the tank water is cooler. The hotter water seems to make them come up out of the drain for obvious reasons. try it yourself one day. Remover the drain insert, turn the hot water on full and watch them come up

[tonray]

12 minutes ago, LarrySR said:

Flooding the room with a strong mixture of water and bleach might discourage the bugs. 

At least you don't have Cobras lurking in the toilet. (Google it) YIKES!

Just add some bleach 50/50 mix with water (safer for grout and the like) and spray the shower down after each use....keeps mildew at bay and the bugs will run (or die)

[tonray]

1 minute ago, Kenny202 said:

I had the same problem re Centipedes. I am terrified of them.

I'd also be terrified of the GF coming at me in the shower with a spray can of insecticide.

[SunsetT]

Aahhh the romance of living in a tropical paradise!

[Grusa]

13 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

We have a plastic food bag half full of water over the drain in the shower, that only comes off when either of us are using the shower & goes straight back on when we have finished, that is mainly to stop the Centipedes but I would have thought will also keep the smell down, my suspicion is still a lack of a seal between the toilet and foul pipe below it.

I agree with you. Our 30-ish year old townhouse was "renovated" a couple of years before we moved in ten years ago. On each floor we have a modern, quite posh Nahm toilet. The ground floor "hong nam"  had been becoming increasingly smelly, and the grout around the base of the toilet was cracking and discoulored. 

Eventually I decided to remove the bowl and see what was going on, suspecting the lack of any seal to the sewage pipe. The grout was diamond hard and stuck fast to both the bowl and the floor tiles - it was a two-day nightmare to separate them without cracking anything.

Sure enough, under the bowl I found a ragged hole in the tiles, a blue pipe 1" short of the surface, no seals at all, and accumulations of you know what. To make matters worse, the hole and pipe did not even line up with the toilet bowl outlet, and there were no screws in the holes to secure the base to the floor.

These toilets are supplied, at time of purchase, with mastic sealing rings. Our friend, who built a twenty-four room guest house, had a stack of these rings - because the builders didn't use them! - and she had problems with most of her toilets.

I ended up making - because I could not buy - an adapter to fit the misaligned pipe and fill the gap, then sealed the pan correctly to the adapter, screwed the pan to the floor on a bed of silicone, properly finished. Smell gone.

I doubt that centipedes could have found their way through the old "seal", but it would only have been a matter of time.

Now I have to do the other two, what joy. No way can I trust a "chan" to do it!

[superal]

Make sure you lift the toilet seat , before doing your business , to check they are not under the seat , cos a centipede bite on your dangly bits would be painful and put you out of action for some time .

[SunsetT]

OK, Im not one to kill wildlife unnecessarily, but regard their territory as outside and mine inside the home. So as a temporary measure, until a trap can be installed, buy some powerful toilet cleaning liquid. I used to buy the cheap 'value' tesco one, but no longer available. I only use it when I get a small fly invasion in the shower. Squirt it down and around the drainhole and in all the nearby tile grout crevasses especially in the corners, behind the toilet, and where the floor meets the walls. It usually foams up. Leave it for far long as possible before rinsing, or just leave it behind the toilet. I think this will kill them and deter them from returning, at least for a while. Repeat if necessary until they get the message.

[SunsetT]

9 minutes ago, Grusa said:

I agree with you. Our 30-ish year old townhouse was "renovated" a couple of years before we moved in ten years ago. On each floor we have a modern, quite posh Nahm toilet. The ground floor "hong nam"  had been becoming increasingly smelly, and the grout around the base of the toilet was cracking and discoulored. 

Eventually I decided to remove the bowl and see what was going on, suspecting the lack of any seal to the sewage pipe. The grout was diamond hard and stuck fast to both the bowl and the floor tiles - it was a two-day nightmare to separate them without cracking anything.

Sure enough, under the bowl I found a ragged hole in the tiles, a blue pipe 1" short of the surface, no seals at all, and accumulations of you know what. To make matters worse, the hole and pipe did not even line up with the toilet bowl outlet, and there were no screws in the holes to secure the base to the floor.

These toilets are supplied, at time of purchase, with mastic sealing rings. Our friend, who built a twenty-four room guest house, had a stack of these rings - because the builders didn't use them! - and she had problems with most of her toilets.

I ended up making - because I could not buy - an adapter to fit the misaligned pipe and fill the gap, then sealed the pan correctly to the adapter, screwed the pan to the floor on a bed of silicone, properly finished. Smell gone.

I doubt that centipedes could have found their way through the old "seal", but it would only have been a matter of time.

Now I have to do the other two, what joy. No way can I trust a "chan" to do it!

International scourge.........Cowboy plumbers!

[VocalNeal]

Bung some toilet enzyme down the toilet.

 

 

It can be found in Tesco/Makro/Tops et al. next to the drain cleaner.

 

Centipedes don't like Vixol Oxy.

Edited October 23, 2021 by VocalNeal

[lopburi3]

18 minutes ago, Grusa said:

I decided to remove the bowl and see what was going on, suspecting the lack of any seal to the sewage pipe

This is the normal install in Thailand and only in recent years has a wax seal even been an option - mostly unused as floors are cement so easy to seal base of toilet as is traditionally done rather than installing bolts into floor and having to have hole exact measurement from wall.  Indeed if seal fails can have smells or leakage but normally easy to fix.  Most smells are from drains that do not have water seal or water has dried out.