We have lived in our town home for almost 2 years and never had a problem with plumbing other then the customary plugged toilet. The last week whenever some takes a shower or tub upstairs it drains down into the downstairs toilet and sink. We have snaked it and also had a plumber out here 2 times and it is still doing it. When we flush the toilet both upstairs and downstairs they flush fine but when we shower it drains into the toilet downstairs and overflows it all over the floor. Any answers would be helpful. Someone told me there is a vent on the roof over the bathroom and that it may be clogged... I.E. bird nested there or just covered with leaves or such... we are going to check that in the morning... need help fast... we have spent almost 5 hundred dollars in the last 2 weeks on plumbers and laundromats.

Hi Kristy,

You have a clog downstream from the downstairs toilet. This can be snaked from one of several locations.
1) Pull the downstairs toilet and snake from there **OR**
2) Snake from the lavatory roof vent. Put out enough snake to reach the base and 20 feet more. Good luck, Tom

We went up on the roof and couldn't find the roof vent... There is a vent out in the front of the townhouse that I am told is for the release of gases so they don't back up into the house... Is that the correct vent or am I missing the roof vent completely?

If you can see only a single vent coming out of the roof then what you have in your attic's called "reventing". It's used when the builder doesn't want a bunch of vent pipes sticking out of the roof and wants to hide them by reventing in the attic and bringing the roof vent out the back side of the roof. This may be great for looks but it's bad for the plumber that has to snake out a vent. The plumber will have to haul his equipment up in the attic, locate the correct vent and cut it open. He will then snake the vent and repair the cut with a coupling. Unless you have the necessary skills this is a job for outside help. Good luck, Tom