I like the Kohler brand and hope the new toilets work well for you. They will look nice as well. Did you get the taller ones?

Kathy, a Roto Rooter guy told me (after fixing my clogged toilet) to use the cheapest toilet paper possible. It breaks up easily and doesn't clog the toilet. It has worked well for me for over 13 years.

Enjoy your new toilets! I wish I could justify getting a new one!!

Make sure he puts on a 4" seal rather than a 3"!

How long have you had the toilets and the home, has it always been a problem. We used roto rooter 3 times and had to call them back every few months. Someone said call another sewer man, that's very typical of roto rooter's service.

Do your foreign exchange girls understand about not putting tampon applicators down the toilet?

Vala, I used a different plumber the last times, he was busy tonight and couldn't come so I called Roto Rooter this time.

Linda, yes, I've explained over and over again and also not to stuff the toilet with toilet paper, flush 2 or 3 times if you have to but don't overstuff. It was clogged with toilet paper, as with all the other times.

Usually, a toilet paper clog can be loosened with several vigorous plunges with a good plunger. You need to do both push and pull to loosen. Use a large plunger. My plunger has an additional snout that folds into the inside. This can be pulled outward to make a good seal with the onpening in the botom of the bowl. Give it a try. It can save a plumber call. I have unplugged several clogs over the past 20 years after I bought a good plunger. It does take some muscle to perate it properly. but has aved my many bucks.

Jemdandy, I plunged the heck out of it, believe me, before I called the plumber. Maybe I'm just a weakling.

Kath, a new toilet might be just the thing you need. Back in the 70's we had a real problem with one of the toilets in our new house. After we finally replaced it, no more problems. Not that we used a plumber, but it was so hard to plunge the problem away.

Good luck.

Moni

Ugh. Rotor Rooter. After moving into my old place I got used to seeing them about every four years for toilets, septic, gutter drains you name it. The last time was this past Fall when the guy told me the plastic drain pipe from the access valve clear across to the septic tank needs replaced soon. He could see via camera on a wire that it's being crushed.

I used Dollar General tp for years, yeah it breaks down REAL fast. Reminds me of the commercial on TV about the baby bear who walks away with "extras" on his bottom! Anyway, one time I bought some from CVS because I didn't want to make another trip to DG. I love this cheap paper! Only it's about $4 more than DG's(the big pack). And I suppose I'll have a clogged toilet or tile again soon.

How I wish my town would install sewers. I only have a cesspool and I'm used to having to get it roto-rooted about once a year, usually around June. It always seems to get clogged when I'm having company, too...

We had our septic tank cleaned yesterday. I am so glad we did. Couldn't put any thing down the drains! Hopefully will last a few years before it has to be done again.

Sue

I think I'd be telling the girls that the next time they plug up a toilet with TP, they can pay the bill. Maybe then they'd learn to stop using so much. Geez, how much do they need? Are they going thru rolls like crazy?

The guy who installed our septic tank told us that a properly functioning one should not need to be pumped out. So far, so good, it's been about 5 years, but we've got a whole new drain field, too, so I'm sure that helps. Our old tank was cast iron and it collapsed. It was here before we built our house.

Aldis brand single ply TP is our toilet's favorite. It HATES anything short of "tree bark". Told Eric the other day that it is sad when state government has softer toilet paper that you have in your own home! LOL Our toilet is new, it is a problem (as best we can tell) with the pipe elbows and stuff related to a bathroom that was retrofitted into a 100 year old house.

Flamingo, yes we go through a lot of paper. Lauren used it this last time before it flooded...although, she denies it. Even Alex has flood it before, so not just the exchange students, although, I think they did it the majority of the time.

The amount of toilet paper is really not that important... if they flush between!!!!

Moni

Sometimes it is not the toilet, but the plumbing underneath. If the sewer pipe from your house to the main sewer is clogged or damaged (tree roots, deterioration, that sort of thing).

Sometimes it is not your connection, but the "Main Drain". There are areas in our city where the main drains that serve the entire street are so bad, that when it rains NOBODY can flush their toilets. The main sewer gets clogged with sediment and other garbage that doesn't wash away easily (toys, deoderant bottles, plastic tops from shampoo or water bottles, and so on).

If you keep having problems, maybe that is something to look into. But I hope the new toilets work well!

Dances.

I would never blame "the last person" for breaking a toilet. If it backs up or floods, it's certainly just the age of the piping or a lot of paper/waste in the drainage line. Not the fault of the last person to flush. It's like Russian Roulette every time you push the handle.

You might want to do a little research on the new toilets before they're installed. If your current toilets are 20 years old, they're probably the kind that use a LOT of water to flush away the waste. The new toilets will meet current environmental regulations and will use a lot less water. Less water plus too much TP equals even more clogs. A family meeting might be in order to stress the fact that less paper must be used and more flushing is needed. I can't imagine what all of this is costing you!

If you have a friend who has some surplus room available, whether in house, or, better, garage, shed, etc. maybe suggest that you go together and buy a snake, a flexible cable something like the several strands of wire wound into a cable that runs - well, used to run, speedometers in automobiles. It has a crank on the end and one can push the cable down the toilet and turn the crank, which in a number of cases clears the gunk.

Much cheaper than calling Mr. Rooter ... but may well involve a lot of storage time between uses.

Sometimes one is advised that it'd be a good idea if one were to get one's shi! together ... but I guess that the kind of "togetherness" that you've been dealing with is not quite the same thing?

ole joyfilled ... but not, one hopes, full of it

Ed, I bought one of those the last time this happened and it was useless. Don't know if it was me or the one I bought but it would not go down the toilet. It's still sitting out in my garage.

Hi again Kath,

Do you have a neighbour who's rather handy?

Ask him/her to check it out - though that'll not be too helpful, now that you have the obstruction cleared. Maybe s/he can figure out how to make it work.

Sure cheaper than renting a plumber!

Also ... when you are talking to neighbouers, let them know that the snake is available - maybe it'll help them avoid renting a plumber, as well.

(Then, they'll owe you a favour, if you want to put on your accountant's hat about it).

ole joyful

We replaced our old toilet with a new Kohler - plugs up just the same. All new toilets are low flow - as mentioned above.

I do like it because it is higher (not that old - but it is nice!) Took some getting used to - "contact" was much sooner - LOL!!!!!

I use Charmin Basic TP, it is a decent TP, but it doesn't plug up like regular Charmin or the other thicker kinds.

Have them hold the handle down a little longer to make sure the flush is complete - that is the only thing that helps here.

Lacking some mental blockage somewhere ... it looks as though all of the potential answers have been flushed out on this one.

ole joyful