OK, here is my issue:

Just purchased the home on Friday (6/1). No experience with this at all!

Our basement washer drain backs up foul gray water. Our upstairs kitchen sink and dishwasher drain into the same pipe as the washing machine, and then these run into the floor, which connects to the drain. When I run the upstairs water into the drain, the level in the floor drain rises slowly. The washing machine will make it spill out up onto the floor.

The other half of the house drains fine. We have a downstairs bathroom, upstairs bathroom both located on the other side of the house nearest the sewer clean out that drain just fine.

We had a comprehensive home inspection, and I was present when the inspector ran all water in the house for nearly 1 hour to check the drains. He even dumped a bucket into the basement floor drain. All was fine. Don't know how this happened in the span of 1 week since no one was living there (vacant)?

I have a black rubber gromit on my laundry drain that has hose clamp on the bottom attaching it to the metal pipe. Should I get another hose clamp to seal the washer drain into the metal drain pipe? What's the deal with the black rubber gromit, I've never seen this before?!?

Should I buy a laundry tub and run the washer water into it before it drains into the sewer drain in my floor?

I forgot to mention that the drain is a bowl type, I stuck a long screwdriver in there and I can feel the "P" portion sloping down but I can't see anything because the water is so murky. I guess there is a cleanout somewhere, but I can't see it because the bowl is covered with brown/black 'mud' that is very thick and encrusted.

 

OK, I had the roto-rooter man come out and clean the piping under my floor drain. Took him 1.5 hours and cost me $160, but the drain does work now. I passed on their $40 drain treatment and bought some ZEP enzyme mix that I plan to use once a day for a week. Will this help?

Also, how can I get rid of the sewer smell from the gray water? I used bleach on the floor, but there is still gray water in the drain. Can I pour bleach in there, or should I just run the water a lot to flush it out?

Thanks!