I am a tenant in a condo owned by someone who is currently out of the country. I've had some major issues while the landlord has been gone; however, I think this problem is unrelated.* [See below.]

I live in a ground floor condo unit. The condo directly above me is unoccupied. The unit on the 3rd floor is occupied. Occasionally, I hear pipes in the wall and what sounds like a toilet above me flushing. I assume that this is the toilet on the 3rd floor (since the 2nd floor is unoccupied.) I recently had a new toilet installed, and it hasn't provided me any problems. Other than the usual, I haven't put anything out of the ordinary down the toilet. However, even more recently, I've noticed that the toilet does not flush as quickly. It fills up to a higher level before finally going down. Now, starting last night, whenever the pipes in the walls move and I hear the people above me (somewhere) flushing, the water in my toilet splashes up--sort of like a bubble popping and splashing water all the way up and, literally, hitting the closed toilet lid.

I'm afraid to use a plunger. Do you think this could aggravate the problem? Do you think I need to have a professional plumber come out and look at it, again? (I have seriously had plumbers to my condo every other week for the last 2 months, so I would prefer not to take this route.) If it was a clog, and I haven't put anything unusual down my toilet, could it be from toilet used by the people above me? Help!!


[*To summarize the earlier problems: the toilet in the condo was cracked when I moved in. The landlord instructed me to apply caulking to the crack, but eventually the caulking did not hold the water. I had to replace the toilet, which I was instructed to buy at Lowe's. That toilet also had issues, namely, it kept leaking through the seal where the base and the tank connect. Finally, the plumber became so sick of trying to fix the toilet, that he simply gave me an old toilet and installed it... for free.]

I don't know what's clogging your drainage pipes but I would get them snaked and cleared at once otherwise if they clog up solid you will receive all the sewage from the upper units coming up out of your fixtures. Since the drainage pipes are "common area" the bill should be picked up by the condo association. Have this looked at at once! Regards, Tom

This is strange, but I came home, read your advice, and decided I'd give it a quick plunge before I called the plumber... just for good measure. There was almost no water in the toilet--very strange--so I flushed it.

Here's the weird part: it is completely normal. No more weird spurts of water, no more slow drain. Just normal. I don't know what to make of it.

Hey! Perhaps the toilet fairy took pity on you and made everything OK. More trouble just click on back. N Good luck, Tom