Hi. I've researched this endlessly and can't find an answer. We recently moved into a home that was renovated in 1995. The previous owner did not maintain the house well but everything appeared to be in working order. A little after we moved in the master shower smelled like mold. I did a lot of sniffing and found that it was coming from the track under the shower doors where water collects and sits. I have cleaned that spot endlessly and all seemed well for about a week but then a perm or burning-hair odor kicked in. I thought it was the doors again so I continue to clean but nothing comes out. Then I took the doors out of the equation and just sprayed the shower head down the drain and that's really when I get the smell. It doesn't have an odor if the shower is not running.

It's not a sewage smell, there's water in the p-trap, but I just can't find the source. I've poured baking not soda and vinegar several times, I've sprayed with a hydrogen peroxide solution, but it still comes back everytime water hits the drain. Part of me wonders if it's coming from under the rubber gasket that deals the drain to the shower but my husband told me if there was water there it would be leaking to the ceiling below.

Any ideas? I have a really sensitive nose and this is making me ill when I shower. I've looked up all previous posts that could relate to this but none of them have an actual solution.

remove the chrome cover from the shower drain and scrub the inside of the pipe and as much of the trap as you can with a bottle brush and bleach.

I've done that and no change. This pipe is close to spotless at this point but the smell continues.

so, if you remove the chrome cover and stuff something into the trap riser, you still get a smell?

Yes although this time it smells almost metallic as well. The outside of the drain is metal so maybe the smell starts when it hits that?

Also when I looked down into the trap, the standing water definitely still had some soap in it from my husband's shower last night. Maybe that's part of the problem?

ETA-Actually it's 100% the drain. I unplugged it and the smell wafted up as I did so



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