The sight of an overflowing toilet is quite enough to strike fear into the heart of anyone. After all, worries about water – and maybe other contents – spilling out are pretty valid as it can damage your bathroom floor. Even worse, it can cause damage to your toilet and not only that, your day will also be effectively ruined by this event.

When flushing a toilet, it’s always best to do it just once. You are constantly adding water to the tank when you keep flushing which results in the water not having anywhere else to go. As such, it might even end up on your floor.

So if you notice that water isn’t going down, stop trying to flush the toilet. Instead, you can turn off the water to the toilet. This is done via a nozzle on the hose that is attached to the wall. Keep turning that until you hear a click. After doing this, you can turn flush the toilet as much as you want to. Since this still doesn’t solve the issue of why your toilet was clogged in the first place, this article will guide you on how. But before you start fixing your toilet, it’s best to know the things you’ll need.

What You’ll Need

You will need to have a few things to go about unclogging your toilet. Here’s a list of things you’ll need:

Rubber Gloves – The things you don’t want to touch remain untouched; it’s for your safety as well.
Old Newspaper – Nothing is stopping you from using the latest paper but since you will be using it to catch any overflow, you’re better off with using an older copy. But if you don’t have any newspaper laying around, you can also use an old towel.
Plunger – Make sure to get the one with an extra part at the bottom; this is the plunger that is made for toilets whereas the more flat one is for sinks.

Unclogging Your Toilet

There are different ways to fix a clogged toilet, and these include:

Using a plunger.

Run hot water then run the plunger under it. Doing this softens up the plunger which helps it create a better seal.
Place the plunger on the hole at the bottom of the toilet. Make sure the entire bottom of the toilet is on the entire mouth of the hole. In case you can’t make a seal, put an old towel around the bottom of the plunger; however, take care that the towel doesn’t go down the hole which can make the block worse.
Pump the plunger a few times but make sure that the seal isn’t broken. Also, make sure that water is still a few inches above the plunger.
Pull plunger quickly to break seal. You’ve successfully cleared the drain once water starts going down the drain. In case this doesn’t happen, you can continue on with plunging. Keep in mind that in some cases, it takes a while before the clog is eliminated.

Using a plumbing snake.
A plunger may be useful but there are times when it just isn’t enough. In cases where you need a serious plumbing tool, you can always turn to the plumbing snake. It’s a tool that can solve big problems which helps you save money rather than spend it on a plumber. You can purchase a plumbing snake at a hardware store.

Here’s how to work with the plumbing snake:

Lower the wire end of the snake into the drain.
Keep uncoiling (this means extending) until you’ve hit the clog.
Twist and move the wire until the water starts draining.

There are different kinds of snakes you can get. Going for the low-cost ones saves you money but it may scratch your toilet bowl. In other words, if you’re too concerned about keeping everything as it is, you can get a more expensive one. Plus, the more expensive a tool is, the safer it will be.

Using a vacuum.
The vacuum being specified here refers to the wet/dry vacuum and not the regular one. Don’t ever attempt to use the regular vacuum you have to do this because it ruins the vacuum. A wet/dry vacuum is available for rent at the hardware store or the grocery store.

Here’s how to use a vacuum to fix a clogged toilet:

Create a seal in the drain by wrapping an old towel around the hose.
Stick the hose down the drain then suck out the water which should also hopefully include the clog.

You’ll know when the blog has cleared when the remaining water that isn’t sucked goes down. Also, you feel like an item has passed through the hose. You might have to do this over again until your toilet gets back to normal.

Using items found at home.
One of the most effective methods is to use dish soap and hot water. Here’s how it’s done:

Pour a teaspoon of dish soap into the bowl. You don’t have to wait long for the clog to loosen. The average time that you can let it sit is 10 minutes – this would be enough for the dirt to loosen.
Boil water using a pan whose handles are in good condition. Do this while the soap is loosening up the dirt in the toilet.
Take the pan off the stove before water comes to a complete boil. Doing this avoids damaging the bowl as boiling water has the potential to crack your bowl.
Pour water into the bowl from waist height. The resulting force should be strong enough to clear the clog.
Let the soap and water soak in the bowl if the water doesn’t drain.

Keep in mind that you may have to add more salt and water depending on the severity of the clog. This means that this can be a lengthy process for you. Also, always make sure that you don’t cause an overflow by constantly adding soap and water without the water even draining.