A Smelly Shower

Smells in your shower

Often what happens in a shower is that excess tile adhesive and grout are washed down the shower drain while the tiler is tiling the floor. As a result, some of this grout may be lodged somewhere in the drainage system causing a blockage.

The following may have happened:

Either the trap or drainage pipes were damaged during an attempt to unblock the drain.
Grout is lodged in the trap and drain pipes.
The stub stack vent valve may be below the level of the highest plumbing fixtures on the drainage system in the bathroom. As a result, the lowest fixture, such as the shower P-trap water seal may be syphoned out of the shower trap.

Of course, a combination of all three may occur as well. Unless the shower trap or drain pipes are damaged, you should be able to handle the cleanup yourself.

Mould in the P-trap

If your shower drain smells musty, you most likely have active mould growing underneath the drain cover. But, if your drain smells like rotten eggs or sewage, you’re either smelling bacteria from a clogged or dirty drain or sewer gases that have escaped from your drainage pipes.

As part of their metabolic process, active mould spores release a gas that has a distinct musty smell. In addition, gas can be dangerous. If inhaled, it can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. Continue reading “A Smelly Shower”

12/07/201830/01/2025

Trees and Your Home

Tree Damage:

trees and shrubs
close to your home and clay soils can cause serious damage

Trees and large shrubs can cause major damage to your home, garden and boundary walls. This is especially true on the Witwatersrand where most areas and soils have some clay content. Without care and control, they may cost you a lot of money and no small amount of effort to fix.

Furthermore, shrubs should not be planted too close to the masonry walls either. The building regulations specify a minimum distance of 1,2 m for normal soils and 1,5 m if you have clayey soil.

Roots

Roots can also grow beneath your foundation footings, lift them or leach water from the ground beneath your house during dry spells and sink or settle the house unevenly.

They will cause the soil to dry out and in the case of clay soils, cause soil shrinkage.

Excessive watering or extended rain periods will cause the clay to swell. Subsequently, trees and large shrubs can cause movement in clay soils and damage your home and walls.

The movement amount depends on the percentage of clay content, the depth and extent of the root system and the efficiency of the roots to extract moisture from the soil.

When underground sewer and water pipes develop small leaks, roots quickly take advantage of those leaks. Before you realise it you have a blocked sewer line and pools of water and sewage in your yard.

What not to plant

All trees should be regarded as a potential source of damage. The following varieties are, however, particularly prone to causing damage:

03/07/201815/08/2025

Cracks and how to handle them

Don’t Panic when your house cracks!

crack defects in the foundation footings and walls — Changing moisture conditions under your house can cause defects in foundation footings and walls

Most homes develop defects such as cracks. Old and new homes can develop cracks in foundation footings and walls caused by climatic and physical factors.

However, it is worth getting to the bottom of what is causing the defect. A crack is the visible symptom of a possible problem or defect causing the crack.

What causes cracks?

New homes

In new homes, settlement may cause minor cracks. Normal foundation settlement occurs when the underlying soil compacts because of construction on previously undisturbed soil, changes in soil conditions and moisture. Typically small, hairline-sized cracks may indicate a minor settlement, expansion and contraction, or changes in a season or cycle.

Usually, these defects, though often unsightly, are not structurally significant.

Thermal movements between different materials

Different materials such as timber, bricks, steel, concrete etc. have different linear expansion coefficients. In other words, the differing materials contract and expand differently. This causes stresses in structures where they are combined and may cause cracking to form. The best way to combat these defects in plasterwork is to provide a joint between the different materials.

Older homes

In older homes, changes in climatic conditions can affect the structure. Houses move with the climate. Heat and moisture will make them expand, and cold and dryness will make them contract slightly. This movement is normal and in most cases will not cause cracking. Unusually hot or cold spells can increase the structural expansion or contraction which may cause cracks.

The rise or fall of the water table in very dry or wet conditions can also affect the house’s foundation footings.