Hey there,
First time posting here, thanks in advance for any advice you can give. First things first: I'm an idiot and I have no idea about proper plumbing lingo so go easy on me! I'm pretty cash strapped but I have a serious problem with my basement toilet and shower drain - dirty water is bubbling out when 3rd floor toilets are flushed. From what I can tell, all 5 of the toilets in my house drain into the same line. The drain pipes converge in the utility room next to the basement toilet, and go below the concrete slab from there. But the basement toilet sits on the concrete slab, so it has to converge somewhere below the slab. So I'm thinking there is probably a partial clog somewhere below the foundation, and the force of the 2nd-floor flushing toilets is enough to bubble up the basement toilet. On rare occasions we'll even get foul sewage coming up from the basement shower drain, and I just have to use a plunger to get it to re-drain again. Attached is my very crude drawing of my house's toilets.
This started happening last year, though not nearly as bad, and I paid a "plumber" about $550 to snake the drain and put a camera down there. He said he couldn't find any blockages, and went almost all the way to the street with the camera. In my area (Washington DC suburbs), finding a competent plumber who has time for small fixer projects is pretty difficult because they're just too busy with large new construction jobs. The guys I can afford and who's attention I can get seem to have no idea what they're doing. So I'm pretty resigned to having to at least identify the actual problem myself before I call someone.
It is possible that a clogged vent on the roof might cause a basement toilet drain to backflow like mine is? It's a tall roof, and although I have a ladder that'll get me up there I don't want to do that unless it's a strong possibility that it's clogged. Any other ideas I should try? Thanks for reading and any helpful ideas!
Tim
First time posting here, thanks in advance for any advice you can give. First things first: I'm an idiot and I have no idea about proper plumbing lingo so go easy on me! I'm pretty cash strapped but I have a serious problem with my basement toilet and shower drain - dirty water is bubbling out when 3rd floor toilets are flushed. From what I can tell, all 5 of the toilets in my house drain into the same line. The drain pipes converge in the utility room next to the basement toilet, and go below the concrete slab from there. But the basement toilet sits on the concrete slab, so it has to converge somewhere below the slab. So I'm thinking there is probably a partial clog somewhere below the foundation, and the force of the 2nd-floor flushing toilets is enough to bubble up the basement toilet. On rare occasions we'll even get foul sewage coming up from the basement shower drain, and I just have to use a plunger to get it to re-drain again. Attached is my very crude drawing of my house's toilets.
This started happening last year, though not nearly as bad, and I paid a "plumber" about $550 to snake the drain and put a camera down there. He said he couldn't find any blockages, and went almost all the way to the street with the camera. In my area (Washington DC suburbs), finding a competent plumber who has time for small fixer projects is pretty difficult because they're just too busy with large new construction jobs. The guys I can afford and who's attention I can get seem to have no idea what they're doing. So I'm pretty resigned to having to at least identify the actual problem myself before I call someone.
It is possible that a clogged vent on the roof might cause a basement toilet drain to backflow like mine is? It's a tall roof, and although I have a ladder that'll get me up there I don't want to do that unless it's a strong possibility that it's clogged. Any other ideas I should try? Thanks for reading and any helpful ideas!
Tim
