How to Fix Water Backing Up Into Toilet or Tub

When you have this problem, it means that your sewer’s main drain is stopped up.

How your Plumbing Back-Up Occurs

The water will always back up in the lowest drain of your house, which means the tub or shower drain first, and then your toilet. You will sometimes receive a warning that this is about to happen. Warning signs include a slow flushing toilet or a gurgle sound in the tub drain after you flush.

Do you Need to Hire a Plumber?

I am not the type of plumber who veers everyone away from DIY projects or easy plumbing repairs. For this particular issue you will need a professional. The best case scenario and easiest repair for this job is pushing a cable down the line or snake. This will hopefully push the clog down to a bigger pipe, allowing your pipe to drain. The machine that is used to do this job is a very dangerous machine. This is the reason I highly recommend a professional. You do not want to loose a finger or even more over just a couple hundred bucks.

Replacing the Water Line

In an older home 1974 or earlier, most cases this line should be replaced. If you have ordinal plumbing, it will be in cast iron, clay, or concrete. If roots are in the line it, will need to be replaced. It will always give you a problem until it is replaced. Later homes should have P.V.C. lines and the biggest problem with this is usually a belly in the pipe. Solids and paper will hold in this belly and cause a clog. You could have roots in a P.V.C. line but this can be repaired in many cases, with out having to replace the whole line.

What to do when your Water Backs Up

If this does ever happen to you stop using your plumbing and give your plumber a call. The more you use water the bigger the mess in your house. If you do not have a Nashville plumber Fix It All-Plumbing will be happy to help you getting your water flowing again.

Call with any plumbing questions 615-568-5051

Blog by Kevin Sipes,
Master Plumber
Nashville, TN