Overflowing toilets can be very hard to deal with, especially when you live a house with only one bathroom. In addition, overflowing toilets can cause unsanitary water waste to flow in your bathroom, contaminating every surface it comes in contact with. This is dangerous for your entire family's health. Furthermore, these overflowing toilets may also lead to costly water damage, which can spread in your home by seeping through porous surfaces.

Fortunately, you can prevent a toilet from overflowing if you act fast. You need to follow some tips to prevent your toilet from overflowing and have a well-functioning plumbing system. You can follow the following DIY tricks or call a professional plumber for reliable and quick solutions.

Before we tell you how to prevent a toilet from overflowing, you need to understand the causes of an overflowing toilet.

What Causes a Toilet to Overflow?

Toilets mostly overflow because of clogged pipes or drains. This happens when you flush something you’re not supposed to, and it doesn’t go down properly. Flushing toilet papers, tissues, wipes, tampons, and sanitary pads in the toilet can lead to toilet blockage. Other causes of clogs include the following:

Causes for a toilet clog are as follows:

• Using the toilet to flush kitchen trash like meat trimmings, vegetables and fruit peels, cooking oil, etc.
• Disposing of pet waste that includes dog waste bags and cat litter clumps. Even products labeled as flushable can lead to problems;
• Partial or weak flushing mechanisms that lets a clog grow with time. Old-fashioned toilers and toilets with float are vulnerable to these problems;
• Leaving kids in the bathroom and not stopping them when they flush unnecessarily;
• Issue in the primary sewer line of your apartment building and not just in your toilet's sewer line.

If your toilet suddenly starts overflowing, the first thing you need to inspect is if there is any clog in the toilet. This can lead to sudden overflow when you flush something. You can even spot a blockage by paying attention to your toilet bowl after flushing. If you think your toilet is clogging, try to listen to any babbling sounds after each flush.

Another cause is a malfunctioning toilet. For instance, if the float or your toilet has failed, it may allow water to keep refilling the tank until it starts overflowing.

5 Tips to Prevent a Toilet from Overflowing

With that, let’s move on and break down tips to prevent a toilet from overflowing:

1. Try Using a Toilet Plunger

   Many people think of picking up a toilet plunger when they first notice a clog that causes water to overflow. While they are right most of the time, using a toilet plunger that has a rubber rim is the key here. A traditional cup plunger will not help you achieve the desired outcome.

   In addition, you need to repeat this process multiple times because even if the toilet has stopped overflowing, there still might be a clog in the sewer line to cause an overflow in the next flush.

2. Inspect Your Tank

   If you use a toilet plunger and the water is still rising, you need to check the toilet tank. You need to inspect the rubber flapper attached at the bottom to check if it is open. If it is, you must close it immediately to see if the water stops flowing. If that does not stop the toilet from overflowing, you need to check the take to see if there is a rubber component floating on the tank's surface. You need to lift that float ball and see if the water stops overflowing.

3. Turn Off the Valve

   Turning off the shut-off valve is another important way to stop your toilet from overflowing. This step is essential if your toilet is overflowing at a quick speed. In case if it keeps overflowing at a faster speed, check the pipe connecting your toilet’s tank to the wall.

   There is a hand crank present you should use to turn off the water flow to your toilet. In this way, you can clean up the clog around your toilet bowl.

   In addition to that, you should check the shut-off valve when you clean your toilet and ensure it is properly lubricated in case an emergency occurs. Sometimes, the crank of the valve gets corroded and may require a wrench to turn on.

4. Avoid Using Chemical Drain Cleaners

   Using chemical drain cleaners for your toilet’s pipe is not a good idea. You can always unclog your toilet manually using a plunger. When it comes to chemical drain cleaners, they contain highly corrosive chemicals to break down materials causing the clog like food, paper products, hair, and other waste. These pipes are dangerous for your pipes as they break down everything that comes in their way.

   These chemical drains continue to target your toilet pipes, eventually wearing them down. It might cause the pipes to leak or even burst. This problem can lead your toilet to overflow.

5. Flush Carefully

   Though toilets are solid appliances, they have their limitations. The modern-day toilet bowl is designed to discard light paper products and human waste. They are prone to clog when you flush something that is difficult to break down.

   Clogged toilet pipes are the primary issue here. When water doesn’t flow through them without any blockage, the flushed waste must return to where it initially comes from. If you want to avoid the toilet from overflowing, you must stop disposing of difficult materials to break down.

   You should never flush cat litter, paper towels, and sanitary napkins in your toilet bowl. Flushing children's toys can also cause overflowing, so keep an eye on your little ones. If you notice a clog, break it with a plunger quickly, or call a professional plumber if you can't remove it yourself.

Wrapping Up!

An overflowing toilet is hard to deal with, and you can't take it lightly. You must act fast when you see any signs of a toilet overflowing. You can use a plunger to remove a clog from your toilet, inspect your tank, or even turn off your shut-off valve tank to avoid bigger issues. Besides that, you must avoid flushing un-flushable objects to avoid drainage problems. You can follow the above mentioned tips to prevent a toilet from overflowing.

Apart from that, if you need professional plumbing help to stop your toilet from overflowing, reach out to Mesa Plumbing Company!