Tis the Season for Troubled Toilets

Tis The Season For Troubled Toilets

When you have guests visiting and it is the holidays, the last thing you want is a troubled toilet. But how does it become so much trouble? We love the holiday season and there are many wonderful toys to get the kids. Yet beware of those small toys that kids love to flush. You may have even seen them do it. They are so excited and run fast for the bathroom. Before you know it, the toy is flushed down the toilet.

Why do the small kids love to do that? We don’t know, but it might have something to do with seeing if the mini rubber duck can swim or if a small ball can float. We get the calls during the holiday season when the toilet is clogged. Low and behold, we find the brand new toy that has clogged it.

It is not only the small kids that cause clogs. Big kids and adults, too, can cause toilet paper overload. That is when they use too much paper and have to continuously flush to get it down. Soon you find that you have a backup in the worse possible way.

Tips to Keep Your Toilet Working Properly

Educating your kids and helping your guests know the rules is one step to avoid smelly backups this holiday season. Here are three tips to help you:

  1. Watch small kids and keep doors closed to bathrooms for better control of their actions. Mistakes can happen. If a kid does put a toy or other object in the toilet, try your best to catch the action quickly and retrieve the object before it gets flushed.
  2. Make everyone aware that only human waste and a small amount of toilet paper get flushed. Gently remind your guests by leaving a note to keep cotton balls, facial tissues, hair accessories, toys, paper towels, cleaning wipes, bandages and band-aid wrappings, personal hygiene items, condoms, cigarette butts, plastic wrappings, cat litter, diapers, dental floss, and paper wrappings out of the toilet.
  3. Leave a note for Santa so he knows your bathroom is not open to the public. But realistically, it is about letting people know that if there is a problem, you want to know about it so you can fix it. Unlike a public facility, you won’t have someone going in every hour to clean and maintain the bathroom.

When You Need Sewer Line Repairs

In case your flush sounds sluggish or the water drainage is slow, then it’s possible something is clogging your pipes. Check your sink. If it is draining normally, you most likely have a problem that is limited to your toilet.

A properly working toilet makes for a happy home. But when it doesn’t work well a plunger is normally the tool of choice when trying to fix it. If this doesn’t work, you might have a more serious issue that requires repairs and involves your sewer line.

At High Priority Plumbing, we have special tools for unclogging and cleaning the sewer line. If needed, we can use a camera down the toilet and into your sewer line to locate the problem so it can be fixed. Call us at 770.860.8110.

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