You’re at a friend’s house when let’s face it, you have to poop. You go to the bathroom and do what a got to do. You start to flush and then all of a sudden, the water doesn’t go down. Sweat starts dripping from your face, you start feeling sick, shear panic has come over your body. As much as you want to go out the window, don’t. Let us try and help you with some tips and if these fail, maybe we can revisit the window.

Don’t not panic flush

You don’t want to keep flushing the toilet in the hopes it will go down. Constantly flushing will not save you from the situation, it could make it worse. What you want to do instead is locate the shut-off valve (usually oval-shaped) behind the toilet and turn it clockwise to stop the flow of water into the bowl. Once that's done, you can move on to the next step.

Now that the floor is safe from an overflow of water (though it isn’t 100% safe from splashes that may occur). You’re ready for your new best friend, the plunger!

1. You want to check the water level. Now this is a little gross, but I don’t know how desperate you are. If there is too much water in the bowl, it will spill out when you start to plunge. You’ll want to empty some of that water out. But don’t empty too much, there needs to be enough water to cover the cup of the plunger completely.

2. All though this part isn’t necessary, you can plug other drains (like the sink and shower). This can help the plunger be more effective. If there is no stopper you can always use a wet rag.

3. To get the most power out of your plunger, make sure to go in at an angle so that the rubber part fills with water.

4. Once you have the plunger in place and sealed, with a firm grip you’re ready to get started. Push the plunger down and up repeatedly. This process shouldn’t take long, and the bowl should empty on its own once the clog has loosened.

5. Now that you know the toilet is no longer clogged. Turn the water back on and it’s ready to flush.

6. If the toilet is flushing but isn’t quite right, repeat steps above.

Now, some people don’t keep a plunger in the bathroom because “it isn’t aesthetically pleasing, or it doesn’t seem clean”. If this happens to be the case for you, just take a deep breath. We have some tips for this.

1. Soap. Now it says to use dish soap but normally there isn’t dish soap in the bathroom. Other options are hand soap or shampoo. You don’t need a lot just about 2-4 tablespoons and hot water. 

2. Hot water. You can combine this with soap from step 1 or by itself. But just like in step 1 with the plunger, you’ll have to empty some of the water out of the toilet if the water level is too high. You don’t want it to overflow from the water you are adding. You also want to make sure it isn’t extremely hot otherwise; you could end up cracking the toilet.

3. Toilet brush. You want to use it similar to the plunger. You want to go as deep as you can and do the same motions as you would with the plunger, and you’ll probably want to toss the brush after you use it.

Note: All the non-plunger methods do take some time to work

Alright, you’ve tried everything from the suggestions above and nothing is working. But wait! You haven’t tried everything. You haven’t told your friend. Now at the end of the day everybody poops. Sure, some of us don’t like to admit but we do. You just want to make sure you are honest and let them know you need help. Most people will appreciate the honesty. After getting some help, if y’all find out it’s a bigger problem than what was originally thought. Call Duncan Plumbing. We have the solutions to embarrassing situations.