How to Handle a Toilet Overflow

Posted on by Homes Reinvented by Satin Touch

There are few things worse than dealing with an overflowing toilet. Not only can toilet overflows be inconvenient, smelly, and unsanitary, but they can also cause water damage to your bathroom’s floor and fixtures.

If you are dealing with a toilet overflow, what can you do to mitigate the damage? While there are several possible causes of a toilet overflow, one of the most common causes is a clog in the toilet bowl or P-trap/S-trap. This article will discuss steps you can take to remove such a clog, what you should do if other issues are causing your toilet to overflow, and how you can get help to restore water damaged areas.

How to Handle a Toilet Clog

There are a few important actions you should take in order to deal with a toilet overflow caused by a clog. These include the following steps:

  • Turn off the water supply. This is the first and most important step. The majority of toilets feature a water supply line coming down from the tank. Usually this line will have a valve that you can shut on or off. If for any reason you’re unable to shut off the water supply in this way, continue to the next step.
  • Lift up the float ball/cup in your toilet’s tank so that the water stops running. If that too proves ineffective, shut off the water supply to your house. The water supply valve for most houses is located in the basement, in a crawl space, or near the foundation.
  • Use a plunger to unclog the toilet. The up-down motion of a plunger creates pressure that will unstop most toilet clogs. If you are unable to unclog the toilet with a plunger, move on to the next step.
  • Use a toilet auger/drain snake. Toilet augers and drain snakes are designed to remove clogs that are more compacted or further down the drain line, such as clogs in the toilet’s P-trap or S-trap.
  • Once the clog is removed, extract any spilled water from your floor. Use a wet vacuum if you have one. Alternately, use towels, rags, or other materials to soak up the water. For sanitary reasons, you want to remove spilled water as soon as possible.
  • Thoroughly clean, disinfect, and sanitize the affected area. Toilet overflow water can contain many harmful bacteria and contaminants. Once you’ve removed the water from the bathroom floor, be sure to thoroughly clean the spill area, using appropriate PPE (such as heavy-duty gloves and eye-protecting goggles) as you do so.

Of course, sometimes a clog is not the root cause of a toilet overflow. For instance, a sewer backup could be the true culprit. In some cases, you may not be able to easily stop the overflow of water. In such a scenario, what should you do?

Seek Professional Help

If you suspect that a sewer backup or another major issue is causing your toilet overflow, call a professional immediately. An experienced plumber will be able to identify and eliminate the root cause of the overflow, and prevent further damage to your home.

At Satin Touch, we offer full-service repair and restoration services to homeowners in distress. Not only will we effectively find and put an end to the main cause of the overflow, but we will clean, disinfect, sanitize, and restore all floors and fixtures damaged from the water. As we work, we will truly put your needs and the needs of your family first and foremost, ahead of all other concerns. We will work hard to restore your bathroom to a sanitary and comfortable condition as soon as humanly possible.

If you’d like to learn more about our services, reach out to us today at Satin Touch for further information.