Sealing of empty conduit from utility room to garage

Good morning everyone,

there is a problem at my sister's house. She has a sweetish sharp smell in the utility room. At first, we suspected the wastewater pipe. A renovation company was there, which first inspected everything with a camera and performed a pipe cleaning. But no success, everything was fine. Then they suspected the connection between the HT and KG pipe and broke up the screed in this area, but the seal was professionally executed here as well.

The smell comes from the empty conduit between the utility room and the garage (230V, 380V line). Since the conduit ends under the garage and is probably not sealed there, an animal (possibly a mouse, rat) has entered and died in the pipe. Since the other end (opening utility room) was only temporarily sealed with a blob of construction foam, the smell was able to spread at the expansion joint between the screed and the wall in the utility room. Well, it is what it is.

What do you think? How should I seal the whole thing again? The basic idea was to put construction foam 30 cm deep into the pipe and block it. Afterwards, to pour the entire pipe and the broken-up area with an odor-sealing mass. Possibly epoxy resin? I hope you can help me.

Best regards

Not construction foam, but well foam and then normal screed. That should be enough.

sweetish biting smell.

Hello Stefan G. yes, you never forget the smell of decay. Disgusting. There is weathering-resistant material. It is used in construction. Get some of it. Construction site and ask. Stuff it in and press it down with a stick. Then, as Vicky wrote, fountain foam. Finally with resin or some hardening modeling mass. That should be enough. The animal is probably decayed. Eventually, the smell will also disappear. Steven

Thank you both. Yes, the smell is really unforgettable. It's also the case that when I temporarily close the pipe, the smell goes away. Well, the world won't end because of that. Properly sealing it will get the job done. Thanks again


By "weather-resistant fabric" you really mean fabric, right?

Do you know how long it takes for such an animal to decompose? Well, as long as the other end under the garage is open, that doesn't help much either.

By "weather-resistant fabric" you really mean fabric, right?

Hello Stefan G. Yes. It's a separating fabric. I have it between the drainage and the soil. I had to take that stuff out after 10 years once. It was like new. Just put it once in the washing machine and you can sew yourself a pair of pants from it. You can also use mineral wool or something similar. Just so the critters don’t move in with the whole family. Steven