Afraid of what might happen

Post Reply New Topic

I think this might suck. In the boarding house I live my neighbor clogs the toilet all the time. Its not that he puts too much paper in it, its his turds do it. Last year he clogged the toilet. I didnt know it was clogged to I shat in it. The toilet wouldnt flush my poo so I aked him to unclog it. He tried but ended up over flowing the poo water everywhere. The landlord had to come in with the snake to unclog it.
Im afraid this might happen again and again. The only thing I can do is flush the toilet beforeI use it to see if its clogged. If I remember that is. Im worried that if he overflows the toilet when Im not around he wont mop the floor afterwards. He has autism worse than me and overlooks things like that. Last time this happend he was walking in the poo water tracking it everywhere. I had to mop the floor for him and I sprayed the bottom of his shoes with disinfectant.

Oh the joys of living in a boarding house.

Oh and sometimes he gets s**t all over the seat. Im afraid one day I will accidentaly sit in it.

I feel very bad for you. I'm very sorry to hear about your situation. Is this temporary or permanent? You seem like you're very strong in handling the adversity.

Other people's bodily excretions like feces, vomit, blood, pus, earwax, sweat (unless it's my wife's) really really grosses me out. I changed my children's diapers like a trooper but I'm very thankful my wife rises to the task of cleaning up vomit, plunging toilets when the kids clog them, etc. I have a very weak stomach with that kind of stuff.

Glad to know Im not the only one who doesnt like gross things. I try to be as strong as I can. It does get a bit taxing though. Yes my situation is permanent. Unless I move into a grup home. Everyone says thats a bad iea though.

My sympathies. I do not like to deal with a plugged toilet myself.
Anyways let me offer a few suggestions.

The first thing to consider is whether you have a septic system or if your boarding house is on the city sewer system. If you are on a septic system, there is a tank buried outside underground. Waste flows into the tank and bacteria feed off the waste and consume it. But sometimes people flush chemicals down their toilets or other conditions occur and the bacteria are killed and need to be restored to keep the system healthy. There is a product called Rid-X that can be found in some grocery stores or building supply stores. You flush around a cup of this powder down your toilet each month and it restores the bacteria and helps the toilet flush better.

The second thing is that some modern toilets use minimal water. These tend to clog very easily and you may have to flush the toilet several times to make it work properly. So this might be a problem that you are encountering. A toilet should flush the waste away with one flush. So one option is to replace a low-flush toilet (also called a low-flow toilet or high-efficiency toilet) if that is what you have with a full flush toilet.

Any time I experience problems with a plugged toilet, I generally use a plunger first. So make sure you have one in the bathroom. It is only when the clog is deep into the system that I would resort to using a snake.

Also make sure no one flushes inappropriate material (non-flushable items: like paper towels, wipes, tissues, floss, cotton swabs, feminine products, diapers, bandages, kitty litter), down the toilet. Also it is a good idea to have a small trash can in the bathroom for collecting non-flushable items.

Before resorting to a plunger, pour some very hot, soapy water into the toilet. Give it ten minutes to work. What usually happens is the water level goes down as some makes it through the clog. Repeat several times until the toilet flushes on its own. (Do not keep flushing the toilet during this process; only pour in as much hot soapy water as the toilet can hold.)

The advantage to this is that you don't have a disgusting dirty plunger getting splashes all over the place. I would only use a plunger as Plan B in case the above does not work.

Just my two cents.

Sarah, bless your heart, I don't think I could stay in a living situation like that. You might ask to tour a group home and talk to residents, without committing to moving in.

Well I dont know. Maybe if I could work, I wouldnt have time to dwell on such things. Or maybe I would be better off in a group home. Im not very good at taking care of myself so...there you go.

The only good thing here is that the guy that clogs the toilet is very good at unclogging it. Im just worried he will overflow it again. Good greif. Ill bet people in group homes clog the toilet too. But the staff person could deal with that.