I had ceramic tile installed in an upstairs bathroom and a laundry room last week. I removed the toilet from upstairs bathroom and a washer and dryer from the laundry room on the main floor prior to installation. I put the toilet back on this week and reconnected the washer and dryer in the laundry room. However, now the drain pipe in my laundry room overflows when water is pumped out from the washing machine. I ran a garden hose down the drain abount 34" to where it bends to remove any obstruction if there was one and I was able to run the water full blast with no problems. I also ran a shop vac down that far to see if I could suck out the problem. However, the washer continues to let water out faster than the drain pipe can handle. It is hard for me to believe anything would have been dropped down the drain pipe as it is half way up the wall. Do you think something my have been dropped down the toilet drain in the upstairs bathroom that may be causing the problem? How do I troubleshoot this one?

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Originally Posted by Bryan Brower

I had ceramic tile installed in an upstairs bathroom and a laundry room last week. I removed the toliet from upstairs bathroom and a washer and dryer from the laundry room on the main floor prior to installation. I put the toliet back on this week and reconnected the washer and dryer in the laundry room. However, now the drain pipe in my laundry room overflows when water is pumped out from the washing machine. I ran a garden hose down the drain abount 34" to where it bends to remove any obstruction if there was one and I was able to run the water full blast with no problems. I also ran a shop vac down that far to see if I could suck out the problem. However, the washer continues to let water out faster than the drain pipe can handle. It is hard for me to believe anything would have been dropped down the drain pipe as it is half way up the wall. Do you think something my have been dropped down the toliet drain in the upstairs bathroom that may be causing the problem? How do I troubleshoot this one?

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Hey Bryan,

You have a partial blockage downstream from the washer. How it got down there I don't know but the only way to address this problem would be to snake out from the washer vent. When we pull a toilet and leave it open we cover the opening so nothing will get into the system. Snake out the washer line and you will have solved your problem. Regards, Tom

Last night I ran a snake down the washer's drain pipe. I met resistance about 4 foot down. I think it might have been a trap there as I have a sink on the opposite side of the wall in my garage but don't quite understand why if in fact it was. I then went to the basement and opened up the clean out valve and ran the snake up as far as I could 8-10 ft. I'm not sure I ever made it through the actual bend in the pipe although I tried. I followed up by pouring draino down the pipe and let it set for 30 minutes before running the washer on the large load cycle with hot water to flush the pipe out. It drained fine. I think I am back in business.

Thanks Tom!