How to Prevent Toilet Stoppages

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Your West University Place, TX toilet plumbing is probably not something you give a whole lot of thought too. First off, why would you? It’s easily the grossest part of your home, right? Unfortunately though, neglecting the care it takes to ensure you don’t have plumbing problems can leave you with a disaster on your hands.

When it comes to toilets, one of the most common service calls we get are in regards to clogs either causing water to back up or not flush down. There are two things that are okay to put down your toilet—waste, and toilet paper. Unfortunately, some homeowners think they can make some kind of exception to this.

Reviewing What’s Flushable and What’s Not

You may be surprised by how much people flush down their toilets that isn’t actually intended for them, and how much that contributes to toilet stoppages. This includes facial tissues, cleansing wipes, napkins and paper towels, hair, dental floss, and more. Unfortunately, these all have the capability to form clogs and block what is trying to be flushed.

It can be hard at times to determine whether a product should be flushed or not, especially considering things like makeup wipes or diapers that are labeled as being flushable. You may not cause immediate damage by flushing one “unflushable” item down the toilet, but over time these build up and therefore create stubborn clogs.

If you feel inclined, we’d invite you to do a little experiment. Fill two bowls with water. Put toilet paper in one bowl, and another product (perhaps one of those wipes that’s labeled as “flushable”) in the other. Swish them both around and leave them for about an hour. Come back and see how much the toilet paper disintegrated in comparison to the other item—then you’ll understand how unflushable items create clogs.

Too Much TP Can Be Just as Damaging

Of course, even though toilet paper is safe to flush down your toilet, too much of it can be bad. To prevent clogs, you should only use as much toilet paper as necessary and no more. Don’t use wads of toilet paper to clean up a spill or water elsewhere in your bathroom and then flush it all at once—this is a sure recipe for clogs. The most likely culprit, of course, for using too much TP is kids, so be sure to teach them what’s appropriate and what’s not.

Unexpected Toilet Clogs

Alright, so we’ve covered the basics… but, do you have a shelf over your toilet? Try not to keep anything small up on this shelf, like hair ties, bobby pins, a comb, etc. They could fall in without you noticing, only for you to discover later on that your toilet is hopelessly stopped up. By keeping this area clear, you could be avoiding a potential plumbing disaster.

Of course, if you do have a toilet plumbing clog or any other plumbing concerns in your household, our team is standing by and ready to help!

For “services you can depend on,” contact Doug Turner Plumbing CO. today.