To think no toilet is an emergency?

[buggeringbuggery]

Our bathroom has been crap (no pun intended), since it was refurbished! The 'builders' who did it, bodged the whole thing, including having the pipe from the bath and sink, going flat and upwards to the soil stack, everything was just siliconed down (including the toilet cistern).

We've had problems with blockages from the toilet and even had a leak in our kitchen from the soil stack (raw sewage behind the cooker, lovely). The leak wasn't fixed because they'd have to pull up the complicated tiled box that the stack is connected to; this couldn't be done at a weekend, but when they returned on the Monday, the leaking had stopped.

I went for a wee a couple of hours ago (just a wee, one sheet of toilet roll). I flushed and was surprised to see the toilet half-filled with water. I assumed there was a blockage, so filled the bucket and poured it down (as I do at least once a week), but instead of draining, the water is level with the top of the toilet.

I tried to wash my hands in the sink, it just made bubbling noises and then sewer water came out the bath plug hole and it stank!

The bath now has water sitting in it, the sink does, but when you turn on the taps, big bubbles throw water out of the toilet onto the floor.

We phoned the HA, they say a blocked toilet is "not" an immediate emergency and they have 24 to 48 hours to fix it. That is fine if it was just blocked or not flushing and you could pour water down it, but it's filled to the top so cannot be sat on, not even for the tiniest wee!

It is the only toilet we have in the house and I have not only bladder problems but irritable bowel, and I'm not keen on shitting in a bucket that DD and DH will also have to use, let alone not having anywhere to empty the waste.

A blocked toilet isn’t as an emergency but the sewage coming up through the sink definitely is!!!

When my toilet was blocked I put a plastic bag over the rim (or a bucket if its full to the top) and then went to the toilet in the bag and put the toilet roll in there too and then just tied it up and put it in the outside bin.

I had fresh running water though so I was actually able to clean my hands afterwards!

Eurgh, horrible images! Definitely no san pro put down the loo, my late dad was a plumber, so I had it drummed into me not to put anything down the loo. DD has started, but uses towels (in the bin), but only heavy days and period pants most of the time. I am not due till next week and she finished last week. I asked if she'd put anything down there, she denies it and to be honest don't know when she'd done it, as it was fine till I went for a wee and she only went for wee twice last night and before school today.

I did put warm water down, but it just came up to the top of the toilet. DH did root around in the loo before calling the HA and found nothing.

No one's been yet, so no drinks for me till later.

Are the inspection chambers under the manholes full outside as if they are and you share drains with another property the water company will sort it

buggeringbuggery
Try the washing up liquid - you need to empty the water out. Scoop into a bucket.
Four big glugs of washing up liquid into the bottom of the toilet. Wait a bit then add bucket of water slowly. It will normally clear itself.

Are your drains shared? If so contact the water company and they will come out and clear the blockage. We live in the end of a row of houses (we own the house but that’s irrelevant) and we have a drain in our back garden that all the other houses flow through. We made the mistake - before we realised- of paying dyno rod to come out and unblock it and afterwards contacted the water company about something related and they said if the drain is shared they will always come out free of charge and unblock it. Wish we knew as we’d wasted £60!

No plumbing solutions but are you friendly with any neighbours? If mine knocked on the door with this issue they'd be more than welcome to use my bathroom in these circumstances. We only really know them to say hello to and to return their escapee dog.

Similarly when we had a problem with our electricity meter smoking and had to turn all our electrics off, our neighbours happily chucked my sons dinner in their oven after I'd popped round to ask if they could boil a kettle for us so we could bath him in the sink. They even invited us in to give him a proper bath at theirs but fortunately he was small enough for the sink then.

Definitely just call Metro or Dyno Rod yourself. Tbh standard blockages tend to be the responsibility of tenants to pay for anyway.

I’m assuming you have a garden ? Bury your big jobs

I had a blocked loo last week. It was bubbling up in the shower too. I tried the washing up liquid trick but it didn't work. What did work was a 3 litre jug of very hot water with a big squirt of ariel liquid gel (bio version) poured in from waist height. Leave for as long as you can (mine was about 6 hours). Low and behold it only bloody worked!

I'd get in a plumber after emailing the HA they will have staff in tomorrow and Monday. Get it done get the plumber to write out a report about water can't go uphill. Talk to your local councillor they're generally helpful. Then let the HA have the invoice.

At this point on a Friday I'd call an emergency service and pay for it myself. Are you going to live like this for the weekend?

Perhaps you can get reimbursed by the HA afterward. But if it's draining itself like that and filling back up, it does sound like a blockage caused by the users.

I had a similar problem, not as bad as this, but it turned out to be caused by a build up of limescale in the pipes. Emergency plumber suggested using heavy duty limescale remover (once she’d rodded the loo), and said to make sure to always use the strongest flush else paper can get sort of ‘caught’ in the pipes. Now use limescale remover weekly (not bleach as it just makes the limescale nice and white!) and no more issues. Before it got too bad, also had some success with a bucket of boiling water with a load of cheap washing up liquid in it poured down the loo. Good luck!

Really @buggeringbuggery I don't know why you are standing on 'principal' of waiting for someone else to sort this out!

Yes, your HA ought to sort it but meanwhile...

Just call a 24 hr plumber.

You have 2 choices

Wait till Tuesday
Call a plumber yourself

The blockage is possibly outside under a manhole cover.

We had this once and it was tree roots in a shared drain in the drive. Access was via a manhole.

Dynarod use a camera to search for the blockage if it's outside.

Presumably you have put the plug in the bath to (try to) stop the water coming up?

If the water in the loo is clean, get a pail and bail it out and pour it down a drain outside.

While you wait, you could try a plunger they sell at DIY stores, which you use in the loo to try to create a vacuum and release the blockage.

(A bit like the mop posters have mentioned.)

Something has gone down that toilet that shouldn't have! I hope you get it sorted soon, OP, otherwise you are going to have to make your own wild toilet in the back garden.

I don't want to alarm you, but do you live in a house or flat?
I used to get this when I first moved to my current home - they replaced the 'sewage' pipe eventually, it originally ran virtually flat with no drop for about 30 metres across the basement garage.
If a flat, make sure you warn the people above you not to use water in the bathroom until sorted.
And if you get on well with neighbours other than those living directly above you, ask if you can use their loo?

You have a sewage leak
if you phrase it like that, will they send someone?

Re-call them and tell them the toilet sewagr is no overflowing from toilet to floor aswell as raw sewage still coming into bath.
They will come out Asap as an emergency!

*Now

Strangely, with “White mice”
after having a big bill, I too absolutely mentioned to every female to please not to put anything down the loo -
I have a bin and bags there-
But the drain blocked AGAIN
when only I’d been here for a while on my own
Drain man came out
Another Rat King!
Plumber showed me them-

It clearly was son’s GF or her friends- they can snag in the pipes and lurk-
Any plumber likes to show triumphantly the “block.”

I wonder if people toss the tampons as they look small- individually they are, but like wet loo roll wipes, they don’t disintegrate.

Drain man said he’s had to retreive all sorts from loos-
He said “Flushable” is a dangerous term-
anything can “flush” but it lurks in pipework.

The builders the HA used sound shockingly awful though.
why silicone a cistern closed?!

I had to live without a loo for 5 days due to new bathroom-
I walked a 2 mile round trip for a shower and loo every day- At a friend’s.
Horrible not to have a basic loo and shower.
Hope it gets sorted fast.

Reading the advice here

Do HA have a 24 hr hotline? I see many posters saying call them- 8pm on a Friday?

Get on to your HAs out of hours and don't give up until someone is there. They'll have an emergency contact of someone who works for the HA repairs they can get in touch with, be persistent. It's an emergency and the very basic requirements is that their properties are habitable, which your home is not.

Btw, are you in the north east? That screen shot looks incredibly familiar, if it's who I think it is I may be able to give a few pointers.

What area are you in am Edinburgh had this last week also with ha and they came out with in the hour do they have a website there's a list on mine saying what's an emergency and blocked toilets on it

Oh this is horrible, I know it won't help with the problem with the bathroom, but when I was having a wet room fitted I too was left without a loo for a week, I was fortunate enough to have a commode that I could use as a temporary loo, I bought some commode bags that you put inside the potty and the bags have absorbant pads inside them (think of babies disposable nappies) so after you had a wee you tied the bag and put it in with household waste for disposal, not ideal, but was the best I could think of, you can borrow commodes for a donation from the Red Cross or maybe pick up one 2nd hand? You can buy the bags from Amazon or a mobility shop, I made sure I put the used bags in a black sack, before placing them in the dustbin. Good luck, I hope your bathroom is sorted ASAP

Don't run anymore water into the bath, the sink or the toilet, or put washing up liquid or bleach or whatever..

From what you are describing, if it was simply the toilet, then the sink and bath would not be affected, water would not be rising in the bath. They would not be connected locally, they should all independently run into a shared drain.

As the bath ( and sink ? ) affected, the blockage is somehwere further in the drain, past the point where the independent outlets from toilet, sink and bath join. So it suggests the toilet is not the source of the problem.

What sort of property are you in ? Are you in a single house, or a flat. All properties have an accessible manhole, and it is from here that the specialist will work.

You need to find where the manhole is, and don't make it any worse by more flushing or more taps. Get a professional.

I’d phone the water board, if the HA isn’t coming out and ask them to check the main drains.

I work for a HA, we would deem this as an emergency, I’d call back up and say you have no bathing or toilet facilities.