Now here’s an emergency with household plumbing everybody dreads, one that’s likely to send people into a panic: a toilet that starts to overflow when flushed!
But there’s no need to panic. It’s easy to stop the problem immediately and take care of some potential damage so you can get a professional plumber out to your house to handle whatever repairs are necessary. Below we’ve listed some steps for the best way to handle this problem in your bathroom plumbing in Potomac, MD.
Steps to Take with an Overflowing Toilet
First, turn off the valve on the feed line to the toilet tank. This is the plastic piping that comes from the back of the wall and connects to the tank. The fresh water that fills up the tank after each flush comes through this line. Turn the valve counterclockwise to shut off the flow of water.
But what if your toilet doesn’t have a valve on the feed line? This is possible for older toilets (and we recommend having a new toilet installed in the near future since a toilet this old is probably wasting water). But you can still stop the water. Open up the lid of the tank—and be cautious about it since a broken tank lid is an expensive repair. Pull up the chain in the tank and place something under it to keep it propped up. This will stop the water flow to the tank.
Now place down newspapers or towels around the toilet base to soak up the water. You don’t want water seeping down into the flooring material, nor do you want it to spread around—the water may contain bacteria and other contaminants.
You can try to use a plunger at this point to see if a simple clog is the source of the problem. We otherwise advise you call on your local 24-hour licensed plumber for assistance. We have great staff on the job to help you with any plumbing emergency.
Mallick Plumbing & Heating Is the Service Contractor of Choice.