I have a toilet in my basement that has never been use. Just recently I went into the basement and found that the floor has standing water(smells terrible) and the drain was clogged. I found that the toilet has backed up and sewage is coming out. This has never happen before. Is there anything that I could do to correct this problem before calling a plumber?

Your input on this is greatly appreciated.

Thank you


What does it mean rod the floor drain??

Your blockage is down stream from the toilet and could even be outside. When you use water anywhere in the house it goes down a common drain, when it can't reach the city main it backs up and comes out of the lowest fixture, basement toilet. If you have a clean out rod from there toward the street. No clean out, may consider pulling the basement toilet and rod from there. The other option is to rod down the vent from the roof if that is safe.

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Is there anything that I could do to correct this problem before calling a plumber?

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City sewer or septic tank? Locate the house clean-out and open it up. If there's standing water in the pipe the blockage's between the cleanout and the street/septic tank.. If the line's dry then pull the toilet and snake from there. Good luck, Tom

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Originally Posted by ballengerb1

Your blockage is down stream from the toilet and could even be outside. When you use water anywhere in the house it goes down a common drain, when it can't reach the city main it backs up and comes out of the lowest fixture, basement toilet. If you have a clean rod from there toward the street. No clean out, may consider pulling the basement toilet and rod from there. The other option is to rod down the vent from the roof if that is safe.

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What does it mean rod the floor drain

Your basement floor likley has a drain hole somewhere, could be more than one. You can pull the grate off the floor drain and put your rodder down at this point. However, if your toilet is backing up and not the floor drain then the blockage could be between the toilet and the floor drain. Rodding at the floor drain in this case will not help since you are already down stream of the blockage. Tom and Ken are both correct but I think the floor drain is not going to be a good place to start with the situation you have described.