I remember this day clearly.  It was three weeks into moving into our new home and we somehow managed to clog our toilet with toilet paper and a massive toilet blocking poop.  The block somehow made it down the toilet bowl where it could not be seen and got stuck.  Whenever we tried to flush, the water in the bowl would rise and none of the water in the bowl would leave.  We tried a couple of times hoping that it would do the trick but if anything it made the situation worse as the water in the bowl grew to higher levels with each and every flush.

Being first-time homeowners, we were immediately in panic mode. It’s never happened to us before so we didn’t know what to do.  We didn’t have a plunger.  We also didn’t want to have to call a plumber for something as embarrassing as this.

I imagine this stuff happens more often than not with the new water efficient, low flush toilets that was installed in our home.

We began to Google how to unclog a blocked toilet and to our surprise, these types of things happen very often.  One of the solutions that we found was to pour lots of dish soap and warm to hot water into the toilet bowl and have it sit for a while before flushing.  We had to repeat this process several times before we were able to successfully clear the clog but this definitely works.  We estimate it would have costed us $60-$100 to get a plumber to clear the clog.  We would’ve never guessed that there would be such a simple solution available for only a few dollars. 

This is not the most pleasant story to share but it goes to show that you don’t always have to call the professional when something goes wrong.  Hopefully our embarrassing story can encourage you to solve some of the challenges that life throws at you with the help of Google and Youtube before you even attempt to contact a professional.

Note: It is important not to pour boiling hot water into the toilet bowl because it could end up damaging the rubber gaskets in the toilet and create a bigger problem.