Being the person that always has to call a repairman or plumber when the toilet gets clogged is not a fun thing.
If you are this person and don't want to be anymore, having a few simple tools and a bit of know-how can help you unclog that toilet every time.
No matter what type of house you have, whether it is an apartment or a single family home, you will need to have a few tools to help with your plumbing problems.
The toilet plunger is the most common.
They come in many different sizes for use in unclogging sinks, toilets and bathtubs.
For the purpose of unclogging a toilet however, you will need to have the basic size toilet plunger.
Other tools that you should have on hand are a plastic pail and a plumbing snake.
With these three items; the plunger, the plumbing snake, and a pail; you will able to easily clear any clog that affects your toilet.
First of all, you will want to look in the toilet before you do anything-and I mean ANYTHING.
Before you do anything, look at the contents of the toilet bowl.
If the toilet has more water in it than normal, someone may have already clogged the toilet and could cause you drastic results if you use the toilet before fixing the problem.
An abnormal amount of water in the toilet may be reason enough for you to err on the side of caution and plunge the toilet before you use it.
Watch how the water flows after you have flushed the toilet.
is it a slow trickle or does it empty out quickly? If the water is not flowing out of the toilet during the second flush, this will be the time to grab that plunger and using all of your might, plunge furiously.
If you can't get the clog plunged out quickly enough, you may need to do some clean-up when the toilet overflows.
This is where the pail will come in handy.
Once you see the water (and other items) in the toilet bowl not going down, you can begin to scoop them out into the pail so it is easier to plunge without making a mess.
If none of this helps, the next option is to use your plumbing snake it's a machine a professional drain cleaner would use.
A plumbing snake is a long coiled wire that is easily pushed through the many turns of your bathroom plumbing pipes.
You would begin by shoving one end of the snake into the toilet bowl and pushing it through until you have reached whatever is clogging your toilet.
Once you have reached the blockage, begin shoving and twisting the snake back and forth until you have poked a hole through the clog.
This will help get the water flowing normally again through your toilet.