Probably a stupid question...

I have 2 bathroom which are back-to-back and 1 bathroom upstairs, approximately 75 feet away from the downstairs 2 bathrooms. One of the back-to-back toilets started backing up on Saturday (this is the hallway bathroom). Thinking that this toilet was just clogged with a ton of toilet paper (we have a two year old who just potty trained and has no idea of what constitutes too much paper), we started plunging. This didn't seem to work too well, and after about 30 minutes of my husband and I switching off plunging duty, we gave up. About 5 hours later, that toilet started working all on its own.

On Monday, the hallway bathroom toilet started backing up again. We plunged it, again without it working. We started noticing the waste coming up into that bathroom's tub while we were plunging as well. My husband went into the bathroom that backs to the hallway bathroom and noticed that when we plunged the hallway toilet, the water in the bowl of the other bathroom would flow in and out along with the plunging motion. So, we gave up.

We told everyone (we have five children) to use the upstairs bathroom, thinking that maybe it had a different waste line, since it's so far away from the other bathrooms (as well as the fact that the upstairs was an addition to the house 20 years after the original building was done), however we were apparently wrong. Though the upstairs toilet is not backing up, when that toilet is flushed, waste comes into the hallway bathroom tub and the toilet gurgles. We noticed also that waste comes into the other bathroom toilet.

So, after this whole scenario, is there anything you can suggest we do? Or should we throw in the towel completely and call a plumber? I'm assuming that this is going to be expensive...can anyone give me a ballpark figure, like a $300 range? Lastly, I don't know any of my neighbors and don't know anyone in this area really well yet, so do any of you know any plumbers or companies in the south King County area of WA state?

Now I know why I hate being a homeowner! LOL

Thanks for any advice!

Rikki

Look at it this way, if you were a renter, you'd have to wait for the landlord to get around to calling a plumber to auger the drain. And, that's what has to happen. Your sewer is clogged and has to be augered. Don't, DON'T, pour a bunch of chemicals in it, they will not clear the clog and will create a hazardous condition of the plumber that you will have to call anyway. As far a cost is concerned, it will depend on local rates, and the time it takes to auger the clog. Sorry I can't give you a name, I have several cousins in the Olympia area, but none of them are plumbers.

Thanks, Gary. We haven't poured anything down any drains... we don't keep that stuff around due to very curious little ones.

I figured we'd have to call a plumber, since I doubt our little drain snake will do anything for it.

Thanks,
Rikki

You're headed right. Those little DIY snakes may get a small clog that isn't too deep OK, but often the just push a clog deeper. A clogged drain brings to mind Dirty Harry's remark that, "A man's got to know his weakness." It's hard for a devote DIYer to admit that there's a job too big for him, and that the pro need to be called in, but this is one of them.

You're headed right. Those little DIY snakes may get a small clog that isn't too deep OK, but often the just push a clog deeper. A clogged drain brings to mind Dirty Harry's remark that, "A man's got to know his weakness." It's hard for a devout DIYer to admit that there's a job too big for him, and that the pro need to be called in, but this is one of them.

Gary Swart said:

You're headed right. Those little DIY snakes may get a small clog that isn't too deep OK, but often the just push a clog deeper. A clogged drain brings to mind Dirty Harry's remark that, "A man's got to know his weakness." It's hard for a devout DIYer to admit that there's a job too big for him, and that the pro need to be called in, but this is one of them.

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Why not rent a powered auger from the big orange box? I paid, oh I don't know, $45 for a few hours of renting. There's no job too big

Jason

stupid??

First of all you have clogged building drain.Do you have a basement?Do you have a septic system or city sanitary sewerage,if you want to try and open the drain with rental equipment you need to find a clean-out to access the the drain system,if you have a septic tank your tank could be full and needs pumped,you have a larger family the tank could fill up and slowly dissipate overnite.Try to understand your system and it might be a good opportunity to talk to your neighbors,word of mouth is still the best referrel for a quality tradesman or serviceperson.

Lakee911 said:

Why not rent a powered auger from the big orange box? I paid, oh I don't know, $45 for a few hours of renting. There's no job too big

Jason

Click to expand...

Well, to be completely honest... my husband is a computer geek who could fix anything having to do with hardware/software issues, but when it comes to the house or cars, well he'll try. I have been the one who likes to get into the nitty-gritty of home repair, and do a pretty good job, I think. I have my dad's blood in me, definitely.

We could try renting one, but we only have a crawlspace and it's quite tight down there. I really think that leaving it to the pros would be best, but I'll definitely let him try whatever he wants.

Thanks,
Rikki

tbplumbloco said:

First of all you have clogged building drain.Do you have a basement?

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No, we have a crawlspace that only has about 3.5 feet of clearance from the dirt to the joists.

tbplumbloco said:

Do you have a septic system or city sanitary sewerage,if you want to try and open the drain with rental equipment you need to find a clean-out to access the the drain system,if you have a septic tank your tank could be full and needs pumped,you have a larger family the tank could fill up and slowly dissipate overnite.

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We have the city sewage. I believe there is a cleanout just after the back-to-back bathrooms heading toward the street. We also have a cleanout in the garage, coming down from the upstairs bathroom.

tbplumbloco said:

Try to understand your system and it might be a good opportunity to talk to your neighbors,word of mouth is still the best referrel for a quality tradesman or serviceperson.

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I actually did, and found out that just recently one of our neighbors, who was a plumber, moved. Another neighbor is a GC, so he said he'd give me some referrals but that he doesn't have the equipment to help us. It's unfortunate that we moved two states away from both my and my husband's parents. Both of our fathers are whizzes at this kind of work, but neither of us followed in our dad's footsteps...

Thanks,
Rikki

snake

Renting a snake from a bix box store is just the beginning. Next you have to decide the best place to insert it into the drain system, and if the snake happens to catch in a bad stoppage it can break a finger or wrist.