Dealing with a clogged toilet is never an ideal situation, especially during those busy weekday mornings. Yet, when it happens, there’s only one way out – unclogging the toilet.
Life goes quite fast. And just like that, we often forget to pay attention to certain things – like flushing the toilet. Let the bygones be bygones. You can still make up for that little goof up. That said, the below – mentioned methods to unclog a toilet can come of great help in all such uncanny situations.
But wait, you first need to stop the clogged toilet from overflowing or else it will flood your entire living room within a matter of minutes.
How to Stop a Clogged Toilet from Overflowing?
You need to act real fast in this direction or else the clogged toilet will do the damage with your surroundings. Carefully take the lid off the toilet seat and shut the flapper that is facilitating the overflowing process.
While doing that, you need not worry about the water in the tank as it is still clean like earlier. Afterwards, carefully shut down the water supply by reaching behind the toilet. As the water supply has been cut off, the toilet won’t overflow.
So, you can now proceed towards further steps regarding unclogging the toilet. As a matter of precaution, have some rags handy to deal with any spilt water during the process.
Recommended Steps to Deal with a Clogged Toilet
1. Using a Plunger
Regardless of how critical the situation is, a plunger always acts as a lifesaver. So, as you are looking forward to clear up your confusion regarding how to unclog a toilet, nothing can beat this age old solution.
There are various types of plungers available in the market and you can pick the one according to your needs and requirements. To start ahead with the task, you can type ‘plunger near me’ on Google and it will return back with the best results.
While flat plungers work perfectly for flat surfaces surroundings shower or sink drains, a plunger equipped with flange is just the best way to unclog a toilet.
Well, again, toilet plunging is an art and must be taken through in the same manner. For best results in the same regards, refer to the below mentioned steps.
Place the plunger in the toilet bowl and thrust down carefully until the achievement of a good seal. The first push is meant to keep the air off from the whole system. As you do that, don’t go too hard or you may end up getting all the dirty water spilled upon yourself.
As you now have a good seal, propel the plunger up and down with some good force while keeping up with the seal. Afterward, drag the plunger up to split the seal carefully. Water must no go to the bottom and toiled should get unclogged by now.
Even if this didn’t help you out, repeat the above steps until you get the desired results. Once you’ve unclogged the toilet, keep the plunger at a place where it can be easily accessible for the next use.
2. Using Baking Soda and Vinegar
In case the Plunger trick didn’t come of any help, you can now shift your attention to another most commonly used non-toxic remedy to deal with the clogged toilet: baking soda and vinegar. You may not know but baking soda and vinegar works perfectly in cleaning of a list of surfaces.
Besides, it acts as a perfect deodorizer and keeps the drains flowing smoothly. So, as you are worried regarding ‘how to fix a clogged toilet’ baking soda and vinegar may come as your best friends. To proceed with the phenomenon, you first need to add a cup of the baking soda to the clogged toilet and wait for around two minutes.
After two minutes, you just need to pour in two cups of vinegar into the clogged toilet. Baking soda and vinegar may trigger the formation of bubbles so you need to be really slow and careful during this process.
Once done, let the solution of vinegar and baking soda to rest down in the clogged toilet. Afterwards, flush the toilet to check if your efforts regarding unclogging a toilet have been paid off. In case the toilet is still clogged, you can now move on to the next step in same regard.
3. Bringing the Plumbing Snake into Play
Just like plunger, a plumbing snake can also help you to deal with a clogged toilet. Now, as you get ahead with its usage, try using special toilet snakes called as auger. While regular snakes can also come handy, they often cause all those unwanted scratches or damages to the toilet surface made of porcelain.
The special plumbing snakes on the other hand, comes with a a rubber coating that won’t create any such mess or damage with your toilet’s porcelain. Now, to start ahead with the process, you need to :
- Put the head of the plumbing snake in the toilet bowl.
- Gently revolve the handle of the plumbing snake clockwise.
- As you feel any kind of resistance, twist the plumbing snake back.
- Flush the clogged toilet to check if the desired results have been achieved.
If you still didn’t find the required solution, pull the plumbing snake back and forth until the water goes back while unclogging the toilet.
As the job gets done, place the plumbing snake to a spot where it can be easily accessed for the next time use.
4. Using Hot Water with Dish Soap
Now, if you don’t have either of the above-mentioned tools or solution handy, you can switch back to the most commonly found ingredients in your bathroom- hot water and dish soap. In case you don’t have a geyser for the hot water, get it done on gas stove.
Take one gallon of water and let it heat until you see the boiling bubbles. As the water heats up, put some dish soap in the clogged toilet. Please make sure that the water must be hot and not at boiling temperatures.
Later on, carefully pour the hot water into the clogged toilet. Afterwards, wait for few minutes to let the solution perform its magic to unblock toilet. As the clog softens, the toilet must now flush freely.
While hot water and dish soap is the perfect solution in same regards, you can also use shampoo in place of the dish soap.
5. Using Wet or Dry Vacuum Methodology
Now here comes a trick that can instantly let you get rid of a clogged toilet with poop. But yes, you got to have a wet/dry vacuum at your place for the same purpose. No, we are not talking about those standard vacuums lying around in your household.
There are special wet or dry vacuums available in the market that let you help with the process regarding unclogging the toilet. As you use them, don’t forget to wear gloves so as to deal with the spilled water out of the toilet.
Gently put the wet/dry vacuum tube in the toilet with an old towel or cloth wrapped around it. Doing this, you can easily create suction in the toilet.
Once done, turn on the vacuum while carefully holding the towel and pipe in place. The wet/dry vacuum must create the required suction to unclog the toilet. As you achieve the desired results, gently clean and sanitize the vacuum for future use.
6. Using Bio Cleaners
If you have tried all the above-mentioned tricks to deal with the clogged toilet and still waiting for the desired result, its time now to bring the bio cleaners into play. Now, you must not confuse between bio cleaners and the ordinary toilet clog remover available in the market.
Ordinary drain cleaners are full of harsh chemicals that can cause some serious damage to the toilet’s porcelain. So, using an enzyme or bio cleaner in its place is always the right idea to go ahead with. You can search through a list of bio cleaners available in the market and pick the one best suitable to your needs.
To proceed with the procedure, pour down a required amount of bio cleaners into the toilet. Let the solution settle down with the clogged toilet. After few minutes, flush the toilet and wait for the water to go down.
If all went well, your toilet must go unclogged now and you can check for the same after few minutes of trying this trick.
7. Call the Plumber
If you have reached till this step, we are assuming that you have tried and tested every method above without any visible result. So, your last step in the same direction must be to call the plumber without any further delay
A plumber comes over as the perfect option in case you witness the clogged toilet issue more often than usual. It further means that there is some serious issue beneath the toilet pipes that is causing all the big trouble.
Now, before you deal with a plumber, check about their competencies in dealing with all such issues. Most of the plumbers do hold the capabilities to deal with a blocked toilet. Yet it all depends on the perfection in their work and that is something which you can check by seeing their ratings and review on the internet.
Final Word
Seeing through a clogged toilet can literally spoil down your day and mood. That said, you still need to bring the required solutions into play to deal with the mess. So, just in case you are troubled with random thoughts regarding how to fix a clogged toilet, refer to the handy steps and guidelines mentioned above.
