DIY Life

There's no such thing as a good sewer odor, right? If there's a persistent, but unexplained, stink emanating from your bathroom the cause could be sewer gas. Sewer gas is supposed to stay down inside your municipal sewer system or private septic tank. Problems occur when it finds its way back up into the house via your toilet. Eeew.

Surprise, surprise. Plumbing experts say sewer gas is something you should take care of, and not just for the obvious reason that the stink is absolutely revolting. Did you know that sewer gas is toxic when breathed in repeatedly? It's also associated with a buildup of methane gas, which is explosive. Eeek! Now that's a potty problem!

According to trusty home repair extraordinaire, Tim "Ask the Builder" Carter, it's best to locate the root cause of the problem as soon as possible. Tim says the cause of the stink is usually a blockage or a crack in the plumbing drain line or vent pipe, with the latter being a lot harder to detect. Plumbers can find the leaks by forcing colored smoke from a smoke generating machine through the pipes. Cool!

Read more at AskTheBuilder.com.

When a little bacteria moves into your shoes, it's can start a nasty cycle that ends with the shoes in the garbage bin. First your shoes smell a bit, but you can hide it, then the little bacterial friends multiply and you start losing the odor battle. Finally, you condemn the shoes to the garage, and eventually you get rid of them.

With all the wet weather we've been having, it's prime breeding ground for nasty smells. Unless you want to run your shoe shelf like a bowling alley and spray down every pair as they come in, you'll want to find an easier and more pleasant solution.

Dryer sheets to the rescue again. These useful little sheets are traditionally used to soften clothes, but they have a secret super power: the ability to give your shoes a clean fresh smell. Just put a sheet into each shoe when you're not wearing them. Next time you go to slip on those shoes you'll be impressed with the lasting fresh smell. The nice thing about these as opposed to perfumed insoles or other products on the market is that the smell is fresh but not overpowering. You probably already have them on hand, so why not give it a try.

Stink bombs are pretty popular among high-school boys, looking to pull a prank on the school principal or in some twisted way, impress a girl. Well, I know there is a high-school boy in many of you who loves the idea of building the ultimate stink bomb, DIY style. This stink bomb recipe takes a week to perfect, but that will give you time to plan the perfect attack. Personally, I'm more interested in reading about it rather than actually doing it, since the ingredients for this one are pretty dangerous.

What you'll need

1. 50 matches
2. 1/2 cup of ammonia
3. Glass jar with a lid
4. Knife

Have you ever forgotten your laundry in the washing machine overnight during the hottest part of the year? Have you inadvertently left damp clothing in your car's trunk or at the bottom of your hamper? Or worse, have you left wet clothes hanging on a clothesline only to have it rain on them, keeping them wet overnight or for a couple of days? If so, you probably know how musty and sour your laundry can become. Such circumstances can produce a pretty funky stink, and could ruin your good clothing.

If you have encountered this, you probably have also noticed that simply washing (or re-washing) the clothing doesn't always make that sour smell go away. It seems to get into the very fabric itself. Having found myself in just such a situation before, I experimented with a strategy to rid my clothes of the stench for good. All it takes is a little bit of hydrogen peroxide, and a little attention.

Wash your stinky clothes as usual, detergent and all, but add to the load about a third of a cup of peroxide once the machine is filled with water (otherwise you risk bleaching part of your load). I have found this works best in hot water, and as for the amount of peroxide, you kind of have to play it by ear. Larger loads (or particularly offensive-smelling smaller loads) will require a bit more peroxide, but a third of a cup has done the trick for me.

After the wash, make sure you thoroughly dry your clothing, or else the same problem will likely come back. Once dry, smell the formerly-offending bits, and if they still stink, you can run another wash -- this time without the need for detergent -- with a generous amount of peroxide. Also try using vinegar to fix it.

If this still doesn't work, then unfortunately it might be time for a new wardrobe.