how the feck do I unblock my loo??

[hatwoman]

Have no idea what's blocking it. but it's well and truly blocked. and it's spreading. the sink's blocked too now.

I went to the supermarket to buy some doubtless environmentally terroristic sink unblocker but they all said not to put down the loo (and, at the time, the sink wasn't blocked). so I bought a plunger and, if anything, it's just making things worse. wtf am I meant to do?

Dynorod?? Have you got Homecare or anything like that? Covered for plumbing?

have you tried sticking something down there to try and physically unblock it? I use a wire coat hanger that you unpick to make a long wire thingy.

Or if it is in the sink too it may be lower down. You may have to open the manhole cover in the garden somewhere or at fron or side of house to see what is happening in there.

well I covered my hand in a bin liner and shoved that as far down as I could. also tried a wire coat hanger. am beginning to think I need to go and loo from teh otehr end, as it were. which will have to wait til daylight. I am deeply suspicious as to the culprit. we have NEVER ever had this happen. but it happened immediately after we had visitors so I am (inwardly) pointing a finger of blame. might have to save it up for some drunken teasing.

Is it fat? Its a bit strange that the whole system is blocked as the toilet (in most cases) goes directly outside to the drain. So I would lift the drain cover directly outside the loo and see if there is a back log as it should effect the sink as this is intential.

Mine is worse when it rains, even returning wa ter in loo sometimes despite having drain expert check and find nothing, but a friend recently showed me how to wrap an old towel or similar around head of plunger or loo brush for a tight fit, then keep pushing it down bowl as far as possible and back until water bubbles away. Hope this works for you.

hair shampoo can help, as it a loo bricant

lol at "loo bricant" !

OP re pointing the finger of blame, I still well remember staying with a friend at another friend's parent's house, and my companion put a sanitary towel down the toilet - I know because I went to the guest bathroom straight after her and it hadn't flushed away. Anyway the system was blocked next day, much bother clearing it with rods etc, and the lady of the house interrogated us over whether we had put anything down the loo. Of course I kept quiet. (I was only a teenager at the time.)

NB I don't even flush tampons down our toilet!

Are you sure plunger is making things worse? Is it not just, ahem, redistributing the muck? I sometimes have to plunge our bath and it's pretty disgusting at first but then settles down - plunging seems to break up the gunge and allow it to drain away. Just a thought.

It's not freezing where you are is it? I had blockage problems recently as the pipe on the outside had frozen.

If the actual toilet pan is full of water, bail it out as far as you can otherwise you are just up to your elbows in yukky water. (use a disposable cup and bucket). Sorry if you have done this and I am telling you what you know already.

Then try flushing and tipping one half full bucket of water of water from as high as you can manage. If the pressure doesn't shift the blockage it shouldn't overflow but will fill the pan again (just make sure it isn't a massive bucket)

If your basin is blocked too it's almost certainly the main drain. It happened to us earlier in the year - the blockage was a good 20 feet down our drive towards the road. It was a year's worth of tampons apparently - I don't flush them any more.

Get someone in; drains aren't a job for the faint-hearted. They can give them a good jet while they're at it.

rag headed mop down the bog. it never fails. unless it genuinely is backed up from the drain (less common, as that usually involves going up a pipe)

Wrap the rad headed mop up in a couple of carrier bags to get a decent seal, has always worked for me. Plungers need a flat surface to make a seal which is why they're not very good in the lav.

we've used that mr muscle drain unblocker stuff in the loo before and that works when bleach, boiling water and plungers haven't, it's a little orange bottle

There's a little round manhole cover in our back garden.

When our downstairs loo blocks, I open the manhole, have a prod around with a bamboo cane to shift the blockage. Once it's all running I squirt the hose down to make it sparkly clean.

It happens regularly (if not often - something to do with the slope on the pipe when the house was built), and I am very proud of my expertise.

thanks all. still blocked. might venture outside and find this alleged man hole tomorrow. it's not me and tampons - I rarely use them these days. all the muck the plunger disturbed was very dark. lord knows what it was.

DH works in drainage , he always says 9 out of 10 times a blocked loo can be cleared by using a mop , cloth type.

Yes, the mop thing works. (DP covered our mop in a bin liner first)

I also used caustic soda, mop several times, again caustic soda....
eventually it unblocked itself (but after few attempts)

How are you doing hatwoman - any luck yet?