Help! Please... Blocked toilet

[MilnersGold]

Downstairs toilet is blocked. Tried all the usual plunging etc.

DH lifted the drain cover tonight, all clear. Has been not draining properly for about a week. I was sure we had more collapsed drains (have awful previous experience in this) but it would seem that isn't the case.

Toilet is concreted into floor so I'm very wary about doing stuff that might cause damage, it is at least 50 years old & we can't move it.

Google suggests I should be sticking a wire coathanger down there, I'm not sure... advice please

You can buy a long chunky version of a wire coat hanger for this purpose . Got ours a few years ago from a diy store and it is our last resort before calling out the professionals. It's basically a long bendy metal rod which will give the stuff blocking the drain a good poke and get it moving. The blockage is probably in a bend. Do you have children? Our big blockages were always small boy related.

"plumber's snake"

I'm an expert at unblocking my toilet. This is due to DS on a regular basis putting way too much toilet paper down the loo after number twos!! That and eating lots of veg and pulses. He's now twenty and still doing both.

M&S clothes hangers are the best thing to use. That's why I always ask to keep them when buying clothes. Much better than wire hangers. Just snap off the metal hook, and with a few plastic carrier bags handy just keep working away around the bend in the toilet. When done flush the toilet to test. If okay hanger in the bags then out with the rubbish.

Before I started using that method a plumber had the tip that in an emergency to use an old fashioned mop if you have one. Use it like a plunger in the toilet. Messy but effective.