So yesterday I noticed that one of our toilets didn't seem to be flushing 'quite right'. Ugh... I hate toilet problems! I was relatively sure that there were no toys stuck down it (my kids aren't big on playing in the toilet... only once was this a problem, when some friends were over teaching them how to flush Hot Wheels and Little People down BOTH toilets...) so I just figured that it was one of those clogs that sometimes just happen.
By the time everyone had gone to bed, the toilet would still flush some, but it didn't have much force behind it, and it was filling almost to the top of the bowl. Yikes!
The toilet plunger we have isn't worth beans and I didn't want to have to tell my husband just yet, or call the plumber (who happens to be my best friend's husband), so I jumped on my handy dandy computer and googled "how to unclog a toilet". Several different suggestions came up. One I thought sounded like it could work was baking soda and vinegar. I gave that a try... no dice. Finally I just went to bed knowing that nobody would use that toilet until morning, so I let it be.
This morning, The Hubs got up for work & got ready in "his" bathroom, as I expected, so no worries there. When the kids got up, I told them to use "daddy's bathroom" instead of mine. Then I tried the next most common idea I found online... Dish Soap and Hot Water.
This entails getting the bowl mostly empty (flushing with the water off if you can, or bailing water out with a bucket/cup) and then squirting a good amount (1/4-1/2 cup) of Dish Soap down the toilet (the most commonly used one I found in the suggestions was Ultra Dawn, but I used what I have on hand, Ecosense Lemon Brite from Melaleuca). Let that sit for about 10-30 minutes. Then, pour hot tap water (not boiling) down the toilet from about waist high. The water should then start going down the toilet. Also, there will be suds. Continue doing this with the hot water (don't add more soap) until the water reaches normal level in the bowl without going down. By now, the suds should mostly be gone too. Turn the water back on, do a test flush to see if it's working right again. If so, YAY! If not, repeat the whole process again.
I was SUPER skeptical about this, but I thought I'd give it a try and hope for the best. And hope that I didn't piss my plumber off. But it worked! I actually think the toilet is flushing better than it has in quite some time!!
I'm very excited that I managed to fix this problem myself without having to bother my husband or plumber with it. However, I just know that both of them would have told me to NEVER try anything like that... so Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell them!
