Blocked toilet

Dealing with a blocked toilet is an awful task that can be made worse if you do not know what to do.

If the water level in the bowl is higher than normal, or your water takes longer to drain away you should follow these steps to avoid a flood in your bathroom:

Don't flush the toilet again

Putting more water into the toilet bowl may not clear the blockage and by adding more water to the problem, you could overflow the bowl and flood your bathroom.

Turn off the water supply and place a note on the door

This will stop others in your household using the toilet and adding to the problem, limiting the amount of water you have to deal with.

You can restrict the water by either turning off your cold water supply or as a quick temporary measure, lift the ball valve in your cistern which will stop the flow of water.

Finding the obstruction in your pipes

Unfortunately, identifying the blockage is the next task. Check to see if something has fallen into the toilet (but first keep clean! - make sure you use gloves to protect your hands or a bin liner or two to make sure the dirty toilet water does not come into contact with any cuts your may have on your hands).

Removing the blockage

If the blockage cannot be seen then you can try to move it through the drains system with a plunger. If this does not work and there is capacity in your bowl, quickly pouring buckets of piping hot water from several feet above the toilet bowl may do the trick, causing a similar shock wave which may dislodge the offending matter.

Has the blockage gone?

To test if the toilet is clear, gently pour some water into the toilet bowl from a bucket. If this flows away at the normal rate carefully flush your toilet several times (allowing it to empty between flushes), making sure all is ok.

Congratulations - hopefully your blockage is now cleared!

If your toilet is still blocked

At this point if DIY has not prevailed you should call in the experts to solve your problem.