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There is nothing quite like walking into your home after a long day of work, expecting the comforting smell of dinner cooking, and instead being hit by the distinct, repulsive odor of rotten eggs. It’s stomach-turning and embarrassing if you have guests and immediately sparks panic. Is something dead in the walls? Is it something dangerous? If you are experiencing this foul “sewer gas leak smell,” you likely have a {sewer gas leak} somewhere in your plumbing system.
As a plumber here in the Houston area for years, I’ve field-tested hundreds of these frantic calls. I remember one homeowner, Mrs. Henderson, who was convinced a small animal had died under her guest bathroom vanity. She had her husband tearing out drywall before they called us. It turned out to be a dried-out drain trap in a shower they hadn’t used in six months.
While some causes are simple, others indicate serious structural plumbing failures common in Texas homes. This guide will help you determine if that “gas leak in house” is an emergency, try some quick fixes, and understand when it’s time to call in the professionals for specialized detection.
If you are smelling odors, check these 4 signs immediately:
Note: Sewer gas contains methane and hydrogen sulfide. If symptoms are severe, leave the house and call a specialist.
If your "Safety Checklist" results have you worried, a Professional Smoke Test is your next step. It is the fastest, non-destructive way to find a sewer gas leak behind your walls or under your slab.
Schedule Your Smoke Test NowServing Houston and surrounding communities with advanced leak detection.
Before we troubleshoot, we must distinguish between Natural Gas and Sewer Gas.
CRITICAL WARNING: If the smell is accompanied by a hissing sound near a gas appliance (stove, water heater), or if the smell is overwhelmingly strong like pure sulfur/mercaptan, evacuate your home immediately and call 911 or your utility provider from a safe distance. That is a potential explosive natural gas emergency.
If there is no hissing and the smell is just a persistent, nasty sewage odor, keep reading.
While a sewer gas leak rarely carries the immediate explosion risk of natural gas, it is absolutely a health emergency. You should not ignore it.
Is it toxic to smell sewer gas? Yes, long-term exposure is hazardous. Sewer gas isn’t just one thing; it’s a cocktail of gases, primarily methane and hydrogen sulfide. While a sewer gas leak rarely carries the immediate explosion risk of natural gas, it is absolutely a health emergency. Low-level exposure over time can lead to headaches and sinus issues. You can learn more about the specific health effects of hydrogen sulfide and sewer gas from the Department of Health Services
Sewer gas leak symptoms can affect your family gradually. Low-level exposure often leads to:
If you have a persistent “sewer gas leak in home,” you are breathing in bacteria and chemicals that belong in the city main, not your living room. It needs to be fixed.
Before you panic about major repairs, try the solutions that solve about 50% of the calls we get at Alrooter Plumbing. The most common cause of sewer gas entering a home is a “dried trap.”
Every drain in your house has a P-trap—that U-shaped pipe underneath. Its only job is to hold a little bit of water, creating a seal that blocks gas from coming back up. In our intense Texas heat, if a drain isn’t used often, that water evaporates. Once the water is gone, the gas pours right in.
Action Steps:
If you ran water everywhere and the smell persists, or returns a day later, you have a bigger problem. You likely have an actual breach in your plumbing pipes.
This is the unfortunate reality for many Houston area homeowners. Why?
You might be tempted to buy a handheld “sewer gas leak detector” Home Depot sells. While these can confirm gas is present (which you already know by the smell), they are useless at finding the source of the leak if it’s buried behind a tiled shower wall or under four inches of concrete. Knew how much to replace the sewer line under the slab.
When a homeowner calls us saying, “I smell it, but I can’t find it,” our go-to diagnostic tool is Smoke Testing. It is the only reliable way to make invisible gas visible.
How it works: We hook a specialized machine up to your plumbing cleanout outside. We block off the roof vents, and then we pump non-toxic, dense white smoke into your entire drainage system.
We then walk through your house. Wherever we see smoke escaping—whether it’s billowing out from under a baseboard, curling up around a toilet base, or coming out of a light fixture in the ceiling below an upstairs bath—that is the exact location of your leak. It provides undeniable visual proof of the problem.
Once the smoke test pinpoints the leak, the fix depends entirely on the location
We don’t just fix leaks; we help you expand your home’s capabilities. Check out our 2026 guide on the costs and materials involved in [running a gas line underground] for generators and outdoor appliances.
A persistent “sewer gas leak dangerous” situation is not something you should “get used to.” It’s unhealthy for your family and often signals a larger problem with your home’s infrastructure.
If you have tried filling your P-traps and the smell won’t go away, it’s time for professional help. If you are searching for “sewer gas leak detection near me” in the Houston area or in Spring, trust the experts who understand local soil conditions and older plumbing systems.
Contact the team at Alrooter Plumbing today. We’ll use advanced smoke testing to find the source of the odor fast and get your home smelling like home again.
Don’t let a persistent sewer odor compromise your family’s health or comfort. In the Houston area, these smells are often the first warning sign of serious plumbing failures caused by our notorious shifting clay soils or aging cast iron pipes. Instead of just masking the smell with air fresheners, you need to find the source. Trust the local experts at Alrooter Plumbing to use advanced smoke detection to pinpoint the exact location of the leak, whether it’s hidden behind a wall or beneath your foundation slabs. Contact us today for fast, reliable detection service across Houston and surrounding communities, and get your home smelling fresh again.
