Do you remember the song "Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage, sung by Shirley Manson?

For a while, we were miserable when it rained. Not because of the rain itself, but because on rainy days a vile odor would seep into our home from somewhere. We figured out it was coming from our ground floor bathroom, but weren't sure of the reason. We suspected it had something to do with our septic system. 

Luckily, while setting up some maintenance with our local septic company, I was able to talk to a technician and ask him about this. He gave me an EZPZ solution and saved me the hassle and cost of having someone come out to look a this.

EZPZ solution: Pour a few cups of water down any drain that isn't used regularly.

What was happening is a house's pipes have P shaped traps to hold enough water to form an airlock against sewer or septic gases. The trap forms a sort of liquid seal. If the drain is not used regularly, the water in the trap evaporates and the seal is gone. Now the gas can vent directly into the house. Heavy rains must have caused the gases from our system to rise more and as a result, we weren't happy when it rained. 

If you have a similar situation, give this a try!

And the song that inspired the title of this post...

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.