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My house is a renovation of a 1940 house. Many of the old nonworking disconnected parts were left in during the reconnection, including this 5 or 6" cast iron drain pipe. I recently noticed that the area where this pipe is found (which is in the basement) smells like a cat's litter box. So it could be the result of dampness, or one of my cats took a pee there or - and this is my question - could it be that this pipe is somehow connected to my plumbing elsewhere in the house and that sewer gases are escaping through it. To me this scenario seems highly unlikely. On the other hand, why would they not cut it out and instead cut the plywood around it?

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Wynne
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Since your question is in regards to the source of an odor, I'd suggest the following. To see if it's still active (or the source of your odor), take a sturdy plastic bag, stick it over the end, and use some rubber bands to hold it in place and seal the opening. Then see if the odor remains after couple days. If the odor disappears, that was the source and you can proceed as appropriate to remediate that. If the odor remains, you know the source is elsewhere.

Milwrdfan
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Come at this from the cat angle.

If you are asking yourself - "did my cat pee here?" most of the time the answer is yes. It is part of their charm. You could check the area with a black light aka ultraviolet light.

cat pee

https://pictures-of-cats.org/black-light-helps-detect-feline-peeing-issues.html

Re interesting old pipe: rubber band a plastic bag around the end. If bag blows off air is coming thru pipe. If bag sucks in air is leaving thru pipe. All fascinating. Then replace bag with wad of rag because rubber band and plastic will deteriorate with time.

Willk
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