We bought our house 2 ½ years ago and since day one the toilet in our main bathroom has never flushed well. It has been the thorn in my side. I have always had to warn guests that they might have to flush a couple times.
We weren’t in our house long when I attempted to snake it myself. For some reason the snake wouldn’t make it far and all I got was a lot of sandy sediment to surface. I gave up and decided it would be one of those things we would get to “Someday….” I was tried of only having one functioning bathroom and not being able to keep this yucky toilet clean due to its bad flushing nature.
With some increases in finances when we got back taxes, I called claim to some of the money. I wanted our toilet fixed! I was hoping for a quick fix hoping a professional snake job would do the trick.
I have a friend from a few years back that has been a plumber many years and so I dug up his phone number and gave him a call. A few days later we were in business. As I tried to distract Lil’Miss from stealing his tools and getting in his way, we caught up and talked about our families. As we chatted, he snaked this stubborn toilet over and over and over again. We were hoping for a toy or a pair of sunglasses or a golf ball or something.
With each snaking, no progress. A little bit of sandy sediment though. He turned off the water and told me we could take it out to the front yard and put the hose through it to see if we could get what ever was lodged forced out. Again we ran the hose through and snaked and snaked and snaked. No luck, still flushing lousy. After an hour/hour and a half, something was finally knocked loose. Some cement like chunks. But again when we flushed it with the hose, it still wasn’t working as a good toilet should.
The verdict was it’s time for a new toilet. Enough with this lousy thing, I just don’t want it to enter my house ever again. The plumber asked if we could break it open to see what was going on. I am all for learning the mechanics of things, so out came the sledge hammer.
Crack, smash!! And there we had it my toilet shattered. And what did we find??? Nothing. Just a dud of a toilet. I think the cement like substance was our main problem, but it still didn’t flush well after we removed that. My plumber was stunned. In all his 20+ years of dealing with toilets and all waterworks, this is the first toilet that left him with a “humph??”
My theory… the gunk/sediment found looks a whole lot like the color of tile grout in our bathroom. I think when they replaced the bathroom flooring someone dumped spare grout down the toilet and it settled right down in the bottom creating a barrier. I don’t know, but somehow a lot of hard grout like material was keeping the toilet from working right.
A few hundred dollars later we have this new beauty. And guess what it flushes like a dream. So excited for a working toilet, I had to announce at our last family night, with our big news. We have a flushing toilet that works!!!
While I had the plumber here making his wages, he showed me how to take the drain apart in our bathtub. Periodically things go down the drain (like things going down the toilet!) and it is important to clean it out. I haven’t been too pleased at how slowly the tub drains, but I don’t pay too much attention to it since we didn’t use that bathroom much. Well this cleaning was much more exciting. We found a Barbie Fin, a Barbie hairbrush/mirror combo and a four foot long string with hair and gunk attached. Once we got the debris cleared out, we are draining like a dream. Yeah!
I also replace the TP holder, which has needed to be done since day one as well.
A draining tub and flushing toilet, what more could a Domestic Goddess ask for?? Okay we won’t go there this week, with the luck I have had lately with household goods. But I am so happy to have a fully functioning bathroom again!!
Happy Flushing!
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