Hi,

I started renting this house in March and ever since I have had the same plumbing issue every other week. Basically every time I take a shower in the main bathroom it starts filling up with water and the toilet starts gurgling while water starts coming out from the base of the toilet and flooding the bathroom. Now in the other bathroom across the house, it has only done this once; however, when the main bathroom has this issue I can smell a sewer smell by the bathroom across the house. The landlord has sent a plumber out here numerous times. They snake the lines and say everything is good that when it rains it causes the city's main water lines to back up and there is nothing they can do. I just don't get how everyone can live like this; it's very frustrating and unsanitary! Granted just water backs up/comes out, but who knows what's in that water. Can anything be done? I can't take it anymore! Also, could this have something to do with the vent on top of the house (I live in Florida, not sure if that matters).


Thank you,

Elizabeth

46357EK,
It sounds like you have more than one problem, and I would start by fixing the toilet. A correctly installed toilet should never leak at its base. Proper bathroom floor preparation includes connecting a toilet to a flange that is installed on top of the finished floor surface, and tightly sealed with grout, or caulk at its perimeter. The toilet bowl should be installed with a single gasket, which can withstand the very slight water pressure present when a bowl overflows...

City sewer or septic rank? Wax rings were designed to direct the flush past the flange not to contain standing water caused by a blockage. And that's just what you have. Your plumbers didn't get the clog. I'll bet that toilet bubbled instead od a gurgle. Where did the plumbers snake from? Back to you. Tom

City sewer. And the plumbers snaked from three spots, one on the wall outside (has a white screw top) and two in the backyard that are connected (both have a white screw top). The first time they said it was from roots, hair, etc; this happened a week after I moved in. The next time he removed the 20 foot pvc pipe from under the ground in the backyard, put in two shorter pipes which added a second entrance to that existing pipe, he also promised this was the fix. All the times after that they have come they say it is clear and that their snakes can't reach the city sewer and that's where the problem lies, especially when we have a lot of rain. I just think something can be done, but don't know what. And the sewer gas smell by the other bathroom concerns me too. Now when I take a shower I know it starts happening because there is a sound coming from the toilet and the bathtub starts to fill up, I peek out and the water is leaking out the bottom, so I have to turn off the shower and wait. If I flush the toilet at this time the water rises, and more comes out the bottom. Last night when this happened, after about 20minutes, the toilet would flush, and the bath water drained.


Thanks again.

their snakes can't reach the city sewer and that's where the problem lies, is this a plumbing company with real plumbers? Don't have enough snake to reach the city sewer? This is outrageous. These guys you hired can't be licensed plumbers. I have found most root problems can be found at the joint where the house connect Into the city sewer. Your plumbers seem to have made a lifetime career out of a simple blockage.
My advice, is to hire a new plumbing company and have them run a camera through your drainage. Please, don't judge us all by the actions of a few. Let me know what you decide, good luck, Tom

Yes, supposedly lol. They're hired through the realty company I am renting the house from. So, best thing would be to tell the realty company to have them snake to the city sewer lines with a camera?

I was going to call some plumbers Monday or the city and see, but based off what you're telling me there should be a fix. Also, do you have any idea why that septic smell is coming through on the other side of the house?


Thank you.

do you have any idea why that septic smell is coming through on the other side of the house? I can only guess. When you flush or drain the discharge hits the partial blockage and bounces back sending a bubble of sewer gas ahead of it. This sewer gas can sneak past the traps a d enter your house.
I'll bet the farm that t6he new plumbers will find the problem out at the curb at the joint the house sewer connects to the city raiser. Let me know what they find. Good luck, Tom

My suggestion would be to temporarily remove the clean out plug (a white screw top) closest to the house. Place a lot of paper towels around the pipe. If the pipe sticks up above the ground, wrap it with the paper towls and tape them to the pipe. This is so you can see if they get wet.

Flush the toilet several times or take a shower like you usually do. In other words do exactly what you have been doing that made the toilet back up and overflow.

Go out side and see if the paper towels are wet. If the towel are wet the blockage is between that clean out and the street. If the paper towels are not wet the blockage is between the toilet and the clean out.

You never know what's blocking a sewer line until you have fixed it.

Here is my story. About 40 years ago I had a piece of rental property, still have it. It was (is) a two story row house with a basement. Had a young couple with an infant son move in. All was well for several months until the tenant called and said that the toilet was backing up. I went over, pulled the toilet and snake the line. At the time all I had was the small drain snakes you put in a drill, about 20 foot long. However, that seemed to clear the blockage. About a week later the tenant called saying the toilet was backed up again. I went over and again cleared the line. After another week toilet was stopped up again.

When the toilet stopped up the fourth time I rented a large sewer snake.
It was in fact what I rented was to large for the job. The machine wouldn't go through the bathroom door. The snake it self came in 3' sections. I had to have the tenant assist by turning it on and off while I put the snake together and fed it down the drain.
I didn't want to push whatever was blocking the line all the way to the street, so I removed the clean out in the basement. I had the tenant's wife watching for the blockage through the clean out. With instructions to bang on the pipe with a hammer when she saw something.

So the wife is watching in the basement, the tenant is working the on/off switch and I am putting the snake together and feeding it down the drain. The snake bound up at one point and wrapped around my arm because the tenant didn't stop quickly enough.

Then I hear the banging on the pipe from the basement. Because the snake was blocking the door, the tenant went down to see what was happening.

I then hear laughter from the basement. I am hot, tired, and frustrated. I am also a little angry because the tenant didn't stop as quickly as he should have and almost broke my arm. What the hell could be funny?

I go to the basement. The tenant and wife are laughing like they were watching their favorite comedy show.

I looked in the clean out. There, directly facing me, was a clown, grinning back at me as if to say, I gotcha.

As frustrated as I was, I had to laugh also.

The kid's hair brush, with a clown's face on the back, fell or was thrown into the toilet.
The snake had pushed the brush to the clean out, with the clown's face pointed directly towards the opening.

Ok, on the other side of the wall, right behind the toilet, outside, there is a clean out plug on the wall. There are also two clean out plugs in the backyard. I took a shower tonight and it started again! I plugged the tub, went outside, took the clean out plug top off and put paper towels around it, then I went back inside and unplugged the tub till the toilet started gurgling, plugged the tub again, went outside, and not only were the paper towels wet, there was water on the ground, both minimal. So that means the blockage is from that pipe to the street then right? And if so, does that require a snake camera?


Thanks again!

If I understand correctly the first clean out comes out of the wall and not out of the ground. That means the water you saw (you said it was minimal) would have come from water splashing out of the clean out opening as it flowed past the clean out. Not from water backing up due to a blockage father down the line. If the line was blocked at some point beyond the clean out, all of the water from the tub should have came out the clean out.

You said that you opened the shower drain until the toilet started gurgling. Could you mean the toilet is bubbling, there is a difference. Gurgling is sound a soda bottle makes when it is turned straight down and makes a noise as air is pulled in. Bubbling is air coming up through a liquid, like when you blow through a straw in to your soda. Slightly different sound.

You said earlier that at times, water comes out from beneath the toilet. I also get the impression that you don't have this problem every time you use the shower. I am assuming that the sound is a bubbling sound.

If my assumptions and impression are correct, you have something solid stuck in the pipe between the toilet and the first clean out. The solids and the tissue from the toilet are getting caught on this (what ever it is) and blocking the line completely or almost completely. Just like my clown. When I would snake the line with a small snake and I would open the line but not move the clown. Later the solids and tissue would again get caught on the clown and again block the line.

Shower drains most often drain into the toilet bend or into the line between the toilet bend and the main stack. Something solid caught in the drain between the point where the shower drain connects and the first clean out would create the situation you have described.

Your landlord's wanna be plumbers need to pull the toilet and send down a larger snake. Just as I had the tenant's wife watching at the clean out, the plumber should open the first clean out and have someone watching and hope to retrieve whatever is blocking the pipe rather than push it all the way to the street. In fact I think I would block the drain line below the clean out to prevent that. There are blow up balls you can get for that.

Is my impression correct that this does not happen every time you shower, just periodically?

Just an update... I know it has been a long time! But, it is fixed!

So a new plumber came out... again, but this time he called another plumber to come and help who had a snake with a camera. The problem was the pipe started going up hill, I forget the technical term, but it basically meant a lot of pressure better be pushing that water otherwise it would take forever to drain, hence the flooded floors, etc. They came up with 3 options. The first option was pretty much rip out a huge section inside the house, which consisted of ripping out the tile, etc through a closet, a pantry, and part of the kitchen, then the bathroom, and fix the uphill pipe. The second option was to cut off all the water to this bathroom and re-route pipes to the main, so it'd basically have its' separate plumbing. The third option was to try a high pressure toilet. Bottom line, they went with option two. I might be missing some grass and my dogs might be having fun along the dirt path the pipe was laid below, but I have no more flooding. Definitely an experience, one that I don't want again lol. Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions :)