Sewage smell inside or in the yard? Here’s what it means
No call-out fee · Usually same-day · 180+ five-star reviews
Step 1 — right now
Do this before you do anything else
This costs nothing and doesn’t need us. It’s the difference between a mop and an insurance claim.
- 1
Run water into every unused drain
Guest showers, spare basins, laundry tubs and floor wastes have a water trap that evaporates if unused for weeks — and once it’s dry, sewer gas comes straight up. Half a bucket refills it, and this is the answer more often than anything else.
- 2
Open windows and ventilate
Sewer gas is unpleasant and, in an enclosed space in quantity, genuinely unhealthy. Get air moving while you work out where it’s coming from.
- 3
Check whether it’s worse outside over the drains
A smell strongest in the yard, especially near an overflow gully, usually means a blockage or a damaged line rather than a dry trap.
- 4
Look for damp or sunken ground along the sewer line
Escaping gas and escaping effluent travel together. Wet ground with a smell over it is a cracked or displaced pipe until proven otherwise.
Step 2 — what it probably is
The usual causes, in plain English
A dry water trap in an unused fixture
The most common and the easiest to fix — you can do it yourself in two minutes with a jug of water.
A cracked or displaced sewer pipe
Gas escapes through the break before anything ever blocks. This is the one worth finding early, because the crack is also where roots get in.
A blocked or damaged vent stack
The pipe that lets your drainage breathe. Blocked, it pulls traps empty every time a fixture drains, and the smell moves around the house.
A failing seal at the toilet pan connector
Smell at floor level in one bathroom, often with the pan rocking slightly.
Step 3 — what it costs
So you know before you ring
Free advice first — try the water trick before you book us.
If refilling the traps fixes it, that cost you nothing and we’d rather tell you that than come out. Where it doesn’t, the job is finding out why: a camera inspection locates a cracked line or a blocked vent and puts a fixed price on the repair. What drives that price is what the camera finds — a vent clear-out is small, a broken section that needs relining is not.
- No call-out fee
- Fixed price before we start
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Step 4 — get it fixed
Ring us, or we’ll ring you
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Call 0406 711 214Lifetime labour warranty
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What people say
5.0 from 180+ Google reviews“Excellent service, very friendly and went above and beyond to get what was needed done.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published “Great communication, Colin was professional, polite and friendly and did a magnificent job. Highly recommend for any plumbing needs.”
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Still wondering
Common questions
Usually a dry trap. Every fixture has a bend holding water that blocks sewer gas, and in a bathroom nobody uses that water evaporates in a few weeks. Pour half a bucket down every drain, including the floor waste, and give it a day. If the smell returns quickly, the trap is being siphoned dry by a venting problem and that needs looking at.
In the concentrations you get from a dry trap, it’s unpleasant rather than dangerous. In an enclosed, poorly ventilated space with a significant leak it’s a real health issue, and it also indicates that something is open to the sewer that shouldn’t be. Ventilate, and don’t ignore a smell that keeps coming back.
Most often a partially blocked line or a damaged pipe letting gas out at the break. The overflow gully in your yard is designed to relieve a blocked main line outside rather than inside the house, so a smell there is worth acting on before it becomes a backup indoors.
That’s not my problem
Pick whichever is closest.
- Burst pipe or water everywhereSpraying, flooding, or water where it shouldn’t be
- I can smell gasGet out first, then read this from outside
- No hot waterCold shower, or it runs out too fast
- Blocked drain or toiletBacking up, draining slowly, or gurgling
- No water at allNothing from any tap in the house
- Sewage or drain smellInside, or over the drains outside
- Huge water bill, no visible leakOr damp patches you can’t explain
- Water pressure has droppedOne tap, or the whole house
- Tap dripping or won’t turn offIncluding mixers that won’t seal
- Toilet keeps runningOr refilling by itself when nobody’s used it