Sink Traps and Drains: Reason for odors and mold?

Quick Point:
Check your plumbing traps. There is a reason they are called traps and they harbor nasty things.

Get a bucket, unscrew the pipes, drain it and scrub it with a bottle brush and diluted bleach. Your bathroom, kitchen and other places will smell much better.

How I found out about this:
I am not necessarily a clean-freak but when I clean a bathroom and it still smells musty, I wonder why.

For some reason, I decided to check the drain of the bathroom sink. It had an old toothbrush in there - yes I have kids.

I couldn't get the brush out so I had to get a bucket, unscrew the drain trap and pull out the brush.

When I unscrewed the pipes and pulled out the trap, it was full of stuff - all black. It had hair, small toys and string. Needless to say - it didn't smell too good.

The insides of the PVC white-colored drain pipes were black and had a thin layer of black on all the pipes.

I got a bottle brush and scrubbed the inside of all the pipes with bleach and water (diluted 1 part bleach to 10 parts water). The inside of the pipes are now white again.

I put all the pipes back together.

Next day I walked into the bathroom and it smelled absolutely fresh for the first time in months and months.

Given the amount of bacteria, mold spores and whatever eles in there, it is no wonder the bathroom had a musty odor.

Check your drain traps and clean the plumbing pipes as well. You'll be happy you did.

The job is fast to do and very rewarding with pure air quality.