Overflowing Toilet

When this becomes an emergency

• The bowl rising toward the rim rather than emptying after a flush.
• Water seeping out around the base onto the floor.
• A basement drain taking water whenever an upstairs toilet is flushed.
• The bowl level dropping and rising on its own between uses.

What a pro does

An overflowing toilet is a fork in the road, and the plumber takes the first branch by testing other fixtures rather than the toilet. If everything else drains normally, the obstruction is in the fixture or the short branch behind it. If a basement drain takes water when an upstairs toilet flushes, the main is blocked and the lowest opening is simply where it surfaces. Augering a bowl in that second case accomplishes nothing. For a local blockage the toilet gets augered from above, and when that doesn't take, the fixture comes off the flange so the trap can be worked directly. Lifting it shows two things worth knowing in older Sioux Falls houses: the condition of the wax seal, and whether the closet flange has corroded to where it no longer grips a bolt. On a basement bath that was added after the house was built, a plumber also checks how it ties into the main, since a bathroom cut into a slab over shallow rock sometimes has less fall in the drain than it should.

Frequently asked questions

Overflowing Toilet?

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