Sewage Smell in Laundry Room

Is this one of the lowest drains in the house? Our old laundry hookup was in the basement/garage area, and there was a utility sink down there too. We've been here more than a decade, and we've had a couple of sewage backups due to either roots in the line, or a blockage. Never a complete backup where sewage was coming in, but I was thankful those drains were down there and kept it out of the house. I would get a plumber out there and tell them you think there's some blockage. They can run the rooter through and tell if something is clogging it.

Also, have you done anything else with a large volume of water trying to drain at once, like a big bathtub? I tended to notice it more when my wife drained her tub. It would slowly fill up the utility sink in the basement, sometimes overflow a little. Meaning the blockage in our drain lines in the yard were not completely blocked. We could run laundry, dishes, showers etc but any time the tub drained it would fill up from the drain pipes and slowly backup into the sink.

Do you have a floor drain in the room? I'm on a slab and have a floor drain in my laundry/utility room that I occasionally have to add water to, due to evaporation of water in the P trap. When I start smelling sewer gas, it's the likely culprit.

Should have said my laundry drain is separate from the floor drain.

I'm more inclined to say that it is a clog or mildew. Any advice for where to look if it is mildew?

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Any advice for where to look if it is mildew?

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Is your washer front or top load? If front load, look around the gasket of the door. My last washer was like this and mildew would always accumulate. We had to keep the door open at all times. You can also sometimes get mildew in the flexible corrugated drain line, particularly if a little water stays after the cycle.

Top load washer. Thanks for the information.

The house is just over two years old.

Could also be a blocked vent pipe (the pipes that exit the roof & allow sewer gases to escape, rather than into your house). Call a plumber or rent an auger and snake the vent pipe from the roof downward. It is common enough for critters or crap to get lodged in the vent pipe.

If the drain is not running slowly, but you're getting an odor, it's probably the vent pipe.

I had the same issue at my house.

I used cleaning cycle and an affresh product.

Make sure to leave washer open after you’re done. Don’t let the clothes sit in there too long after a cycle ends. Future Mrs. Lazy likes to leave clothes in for hours after she washes them instead of moving the clothes and leaving the lid open to dry out the washer. Make sure to open up the detergent holder too if you have one.

ETA: what brand top loader do you have?

My Maytag top loader reminds me every few months to run a bleach/Affresh load. The reminder light goes away after the next load is started.

Yeah my whirlpool had the same issue. I’ve been having to run a cycle with affresh every other month or so.

Keeps coming back most likely due to the door being shut and not drying out properly.