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Can I ask why you bought a whole new toilet because ‘something was broken’ What was broken exactly and why did that necessitate the whole toilet being replaced.
You say the guest is now saying there is flooding . Where from have you gone over to see where the leak is coming from ? If it’s the toilet surely unless guest error the plumber you sort for free ??
She doesn’t know anything about plumbing or toilets and just did what the plumber (who either is incompetent or a scammer) recommended. She already feels pretty foolish about it, so we should probably go easy on her.
For the record (to those who try and try by themselves, then pay the price of amateurs, friends and handymen, get frustrated and finally call a plumber) it MIGHT sometimes be the toilet. (I realize not in the current case, as she bought a new one.) I called a plumber and he told me that before he charges me over $100 an hour I should remove the toilet, turn it over and check inside the pipes. This finally motivated my husband to do just that and he found a brooch that had fallen off a guests blouse when she had reached behind the toilet to “help adjust the bolt” (???) a year ago. The thing only intermittently snagged enough paper & goo to flood. I had plunged, awled, and done everything I could think of. So grateful to that honest, probably overworked plumber.
That is true. We only knew that it wasn’t the toilet in OP’s case because she had already replaced it. And I hope the plumber did not sell her a new toilet because something needed to be removed from inside it. I just learned about this kind of issue.
We just went through this. And of course a brand new tenant had just moved in. It was backing up and so we used an auger, pulled out a ball of hair that seemed to be the problem and called a plumber. Everything was fine, plumber listened to the pipes in the basement, put some pipe cleaner in as a preventative and left. A day and half later, the same exact routine, but with a different plumber with a longer snake and everything seemed fine again. Two days later and a yet a different plumber who said, well let’s take the toilet into the backyard. My husband helped him carry it out there. And they pulled this out:
Not sure what it is but the plumber said it could have been in there for up to a year and that it would usually let the water flow through because it would move in there but that it eventually it got stuck in a spot where it couldn’t move as easily. Someone may have accidentally dropped it in there and was stupid enough to flush it but we suspect our previous tenants did it on purpose. (But that’s okay because a judge gave us a decent judgment against them for the other issues we had with them).
It’s an old toilet flapper. Must have been in there for years, having been dropped in at some point when a new one was being installed.
It’s not. No less than 6 plumbers have passed it around and looked at it. They have also noted that a flapper wouldn’t be able to get into the toilet itself. If it was small enough to get into the toilet, it would not big enought to be a flapper.
If you could see it in person, you wouldn’t think it was a flapper. And it is not rubber though it looks like it in the photo The consensus is that it is a piece of packaging from something and I agree with that. It is 2.04 inches diameter of Inflexible thin cheap plastic. I imagine it was the base for something glass or of an odd shape.
Ah, okay, got it. Impossible to tell the size and material on a photo. The shape and color sure looked like one.
Still on the subject of toilets, but off the main topic, I had an issue at one point with my toilets not doing a full flush, having to be flushed twice. My first thought, after making sure the float wasn’t malfunctioning or set too low was that my septic needed pumping out.
When I went online to research, I found out that all those little holes under the rim, and the front hole, that the tank water gushes out of when you flush can get plugged up with crud if you live in an area with hard water. (Lots of calcium and other minerals where I live)
The fix was easy. Shut off the water valve, flush the toilet so the tank empties and doesn’t refill, mop up any water still left in there with a sponge. Then lift the flapper and pour some muriatic acid down the hole (wear a mask and eye and hand protection).
Leave it for several hours (I left it overnight). When you then look in the toilet, you’ll see a lot of crud floating around. Open the water valve and flush when the tank fills. Lots more crud will come out the holes. Scrub across the holes to remove any residue.
My toilets went from wimpy, ineffectual flush to whoosh! with 10 minutes worth of easy work and a little muriatic acid.
Don’t feel bad. We had an issue with the waterline for our refrigerator and called Sears. They charged about $150 plus sales tax just to come out and give us an estimate. He didn’t even fix it. He was in and out in 10 mins. Just enough time to take a quick look and write an estimate. Any time we have to call a plumber or electrician we know it’s going to be expensive. Remember to save your receipts so you can write them off.
I had something similar happen. Toilet was removed to put in new flooring and they used the same old wax ring when they put it back. Wrong. Had to pull it and put a new, bigger wax ring in place. Then, it leaked again but turns out they loosened the plastic nut inside the tank by accident when they moved the toilet. Tightened it. Caulked around toilet once I knew leaking was done. My water wasn’t stinky…but it was brown/yellowish from the wax I guess.
I recommend developing a relationship with an electrician by getting a couple of extra outlets installed and with a plumber by having a faucet replaced so then you already have (or know if you don’t have) a good electrician or plumber when you have an emergency. Might sound strange but everyone can use an extra outlet and an updated faucet and it’s still cheaper than taking a chance on an untested electrician or plumber in an emergency situation.
In Europe, we use rubber/silicone flanges to connect the toilet to the waste. I posted this a while back, my version of the dodgy toilet:
My god, you’ve just reminded me of our absolute nightmare scenario that happened when we got the the first of our two apartments opened up.
First Airbnb guest, lovely guy working at the US base in Rota, staying for five days.
Got a message from him after first night, “have you got a plunger, I think I’ve blocked the loo”.
Told him where it was and checked all was good. Yes he says.
Same story at check out, so we assumed he’d simply used too much paper, or had been eating too much red meat
Next guest a one nighter from BDC the following day. Couple of strange German women who sold BitCoin for a living.
Inspecting apartment after check out found several floaters
Tried flushing, no go. Used drain rod, liquid unblocking solutions, slight improvement but still not flushing like it should. Got guests coming the next day and second apartment nowhere near finished. Spoke to builder, he says someone must have flushed a nappy or something down it.
This then became a circular discussion where he says nowt to do with him and suggested we get the Dyno Rod guy out. No way, €400 minimum!
My OH was talking about cancelling next guests, which would have been disastrous to our standings. So, I started to think about it logically. I knew it was a new waste pipe, I’d been there when it was being fitted, and it connected to the main waste which was flowing (and flushing to) fine.
Only thing left is the actual lavvy. Out with the tools time.
When I removed the pan the problem was obvious, the guy who’d fitted it had used a straight connector from pan to waste, when he should have used an offset one. It meant the joint was compressed and only allowed small poos to pass, so to speak.
Quick run to hardware shop, €5 and twenty minutes work later, a perfectly flushing lavvy. I even road tested it myself
It’s funny when we look back on it now, but at the time it was shaping up to be not the best start to a STR business! Both sets of guests gave us good reviews despite the problem, they probably blamed themselves. Our builder was very quiet after I told him, especially as I’d photographed the evidence, both human and hardware related
JF
Too funny, @JohnF 
. Nice handy work. New construction nightmares….new condo, upstairs toilet flushes slowly/not. So I use the evil plunger (if I could omit them from my rental I would; they are dangerous!). Silly me…I’m going at it like a wild woman and then suddenly the water level goes down. Cool. NOT. Get downstairs and water is coming through my brand new ceiling 
. Turns out…construction foam in the line. I stuff it further with plunging and then once it was good and tight I broke the toilet seal with my robust plunging efforts. Builder kindly fixed all since it was their foam in the line but still. I use the 5 gallon water bucket approach now and if that doesn’t do it I assume someone did something worse than 
.
When I had the ensuite bathroom added to the guest room 6 years ago my first guest was my nephew and his girlfriend. Lucky for me. After a day of consistent use he asked if I had a plunger. I called the contractor who told me to call Roto Rooter and he’d pay for it. Roto Rooter was sure what was in the line but speculated it was a plastic water bottle. He said it’s a frequent problem with new construction. Whether laziness or malice, a lot of stuff ends up in the sewer pipe that shouldn’t.
Great idea! Thank you so much. I’m blocking my calendar so that I can do a bit of remodeling and I’ll add to the list a plumber and electrician. Thanks again.
