Draining Advice
We have three toilets in our house. Two were sluggish. One was downright comatose.
And I was throwing a party. It was either call a plumber or rent a port-a-potty.
Enter Josh the Plumber.
He snaked our toilets and offered a bowlful of drain tips. Which I'm passing along to you.
1. NEVER use Charmin toilet paper. No matter how tempted you are. Even if it's hugely on sale. Even when they tell you it's ultra strong and ultra soft.
Apparently, Charmin' is more like a kissing cousin to paper towel (thick) than to other brands of toilet paper (thin).
2. When you pay your rent/mortgage (that is, once a month), dump 1 cup of bleach down each drain in your house. Let sit for 30 minutes, then pour down hot water.
3. For sluggish toilets in high-calcium areas (like San Diego), pour ten seconds' worth or 1/4 cup of CLR down the little white pipe thingie (yes, this is a professional plumber term) under the lid at the back of your toilet. Let sit for 30 minutes, then flush.
4. For kids' parties, remove paper towel and Kleenex from the bathroom.
5. For kids' parties, only put out single ply toilet paper.
6. Hold kids' parties at Chuck E. Cheez or at a local park. (Kidding. This wasn't part of his advice.)
2. When you pay your rent/mortgage (that is, once a month), dump 1 cup of bleach down each drain in your house. Let sit for 30 minutes, then pour down hot water.
3. For sluggish toilets in high-calcium areas (like San Diego), pour ten seconds' worth or 1/4 cup of CLR down the little white pipe thingie (yes, this is a professional plumber term) under the lid at the back of your toilet. Let sit for 30 minutes, then flush.
4. For kids' parties, remove paper towel and Kleenex from the bathroom.
5. For kids' parties, only put out single ply toilet paper.
6. Hold kids' parties at Chuck E. Cheez or at a local park. (Kidding. This wasn't part of his advice.)
And that, my dear friends, is a little (probably unexpected) practical advice from my corner of the world.
Posts
Number 6.
ReplyDeletefor sure!!!
That was a fantastic list!! I'm off to begin the pouring of the bleach.
I'm rather partial to cosmic bowling parties as well!
ReplyDeleteOh, that explains a lot about the bathroom in my old apartment. The evils of Charmin and high calcium.
ReplyDeleteTell Josh the Plumber that he's awesome.
That was great advice! Can you believe I don't have a bottle of bleach in my house? I have Clorox Clean-up but I don't think that is exactly the same as good ol' bleach. Am I wrong?
ReplyDeleteOh! I have another to add to your list, make sure if it's a new toilet that they remove all the Styrofoam. When we first moved in, our toilet was very sluggish and kept clogging. The builder (about 24 years old) thought he needed to give me a lesson on how to flush. I wanted to ground him. After much debating on my flushing abilities, he had a plumber check the toilet, who found it stuffed with Styrofoam from when it was packed. Nice.
No bleach of you have a septic system, though. A bit o'Ridex or yeast will keep it moving :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's some interesting advice. Thanks for saving my drains.
ReplyDeleteThank you Josh the Plumber
ReplyDeleteWhat will Mr. Whipple say? We not only can't SQUEEZE the Charmin, we can't even USE the Charmin! Thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteGood tips from Josh the Plumber. Hope he gave you a discount for spreading the word.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to break the news to Bri...Charmin is his favorite. He'll be sad. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this info. Without going into the gruesome details, these tips are timely and very helpful!
ReplyDeleteHeh heh. I think there's a lot to be said for just keeping ALL kids out of bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know these drain tips, thanks Barrie.
Sheri, I don't know if Chlorox Clean-up is the same thing as plain old bleach. I have a big bottle of bleach, Target-brand, because I use it to whiten my tea mugs. And now to clear my drains!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips, I'm sure I'll at least be putting the CLR one to use do to my very hard water.
ReplyDeleteGood advice! Thank you!!!!
ReplyDeleteYikes ... we buy the Costco-sized packs of Charmin ... we've just learned to flush more often! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love Charmin. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice!! :)
good advice--my sink is sluggish.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest bleach once a month in the quantity mentioned. Works perfectly and its natural too.
ReplyDeleteYou are great! I am loving your site! Can't wait to see more of you :)
ReplyDeleteLOVE it! But WHAT does the bleach do? I'm just curious. Especially love #6! LOL LOL
ReplyDeleteThis is hot if you like eating fast food sometimes. Although I don't recommend eating out a lot but you can still
ReplyDeleteshare them with family members and friends. You can get some free coupons for McDonalds and
Burger King.
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