After working for many years as a Marietta plumber, I have lots of plumbing advice to share with the average home-owner. Hopefully this advice will save you money and time in the event that you ever have one of these plumbing problems. Two common problems that many people will experience are a clogged shower drain and an overflowing toilet. Here are some plumbing tips to help you fix the overflowing toilet or clogged shower drain yourself.
The first plumbing tip is to be used when your toilet is over flowing. This is often caused by excessive toilet paper or something fell into the toilet. The first thing to try to unclog your toilet is by using a standard plunger this is the easiest way to fix a clogged toilet. If the plunger doesn’t do the trick and the water still isn’t going down the drain you will need a plumbers snake. The snake that you will want to get for your toilet is called a toilet auger and is made especially for toilets. This type of snake will not scratch your porcelain toilet bowl. The toilet auger can be purchased at your local hardware store and is a good item to have on hand for emergencies. When using a snake you will insert it into the toilet and slowly start cranking the handle in a clockwise direction. If the toilet bowl is empty fill it with some water. When the snake will no longer turn, pull the snake out and clean. Insert again and repeat the process until the drain is cleared and the water goes down smoothly.
Dealing with a clogged shower drain can often cause the person affected to buy a bottle of drain opener. This is a chemical treatment and will work but, to avoid the chemicals there is a better way of doing it. One way of doing this is to unscrew the top of the shower drain itself and use a coat hanger to pull out the hair that is clogging the drain. More times than not the cause of a shower drain clog is due to a buildup of hair. After pulling the hair out flush with apple cider vinegar and hot water.