uh-oh, toilet blocked!

googler

wallofbeans wrote: »

.....the bowl fills up with water and then drains out very slowly until there's almost nothing left... then water starts seeping through the floor tiles and soaking the floor...

Wait a minute, the foul water is seeping UP through the grout lines of the floor tiles?

OMG, you need to sort this quick... either it's seeping into the area between floor tiles and floor, or worse.

wallofbeans

googler wrote: »

Wait a minute, the foul water is seeping UP through the grout lines of the floor tiles?

OMG, you need to sort this quick... either it's seeping into the area between floor tiles and floor, or worse.

Yes, water seeping up through grout at edges, where the tiles meet the wall but only in one small area and only for a few seconds when you flush. this has only been happening for the last few hours (not the last 2 years as somebody mentioned!) and its not foul water, its looks totally clear and there is no smell (phew)..

Thames Water coming tomorrow and yes, with our house being built in 1873 and the fact that we have a shared drain they should fix it all for free as its their problem apparently..

Thats as long as they deem it their problem.. if they say its not, then I get charged £38 and they leave me to sort it out.. great!

And that's when the floor is coming up...

latecomer

I think £38 to find out that the problem is definitely in your system isn't bad at all, at least you have have narrowed it down.

macman

wallofbeans wrote: »

Yes, water seeping up through grout at edges, where the tiles meet the wall but only in one small area and only for a few seconds when you flush. this has only been happening for the last few hours (not the last 2 years as somebody mentioned!) and its not foul water, its looks totally clear and there is no smell (phew)..

Thames Water coming tomorrow and yes, with our house being built in 1873 and the fact that we have a shared drain they should fix it all for free as its their problem apparently..

Thats as long as they deem it their problem.. if they say its not, then I get charged £38 and they leave me to sort it out.. great!

And that's when the floor is coming up...

If yours is a shared foul water drain of that age, then yes TW are responsible for the common parts, even where they run under your property. However where you have got it completely wrong is that they are not responsible for the soil pipe between your WC and the drain itself, i.e. the pipe through the wall and down the outside to drain level. That is yours and yours alone.
It sounds to me like you have 2 problems, first a blockage or obstruction in the drain (TW's responsibility) and a leak at or near the WC itself (your responsibility). Unless it's backing up the full height of the soil pipe...though I find that hard to believe, as the smell would be overpowering.
TW will most certainly not take your floor up at their expense!

27col

If you cannot establish exactly where the problem lies, then paying out £38 to find out would be a good investment. Once the source of a problem is located work can be put in hand to fix it. If the source of the problem is not known then any work carried out with a view to fixing it is liable to be wasted.

wallofbeans

TW guy been round. Drain in neighbours garden (where our downstairs loo flows directly into) was pretty clear and he saw water from our washing machine come through (in the room next door to the loo but further away from the drain) but not much of the water from the loo when flushed. So signs pointing to problem before it hits drain.

He said next step is to get plumber to stick a long pipe down the loo and try and unblock. If that doesnt work then it could be a collapsed pipe, which means floor up and a whole lot of mess. He said its very hard to say what and where exactly the problem is but he doubts its Thames Water. I dont think its just a blockage because we had it unblocked last time and its back. Could the same thing happen twice and it not be a bigger problem?

Onwards I go. Next step, find a plumber! Is this a specialist job or will a regular plumber be able to handle it? This could get expensive!

vegasvisitor

For ours we got a drainage company, on the assumption they could unblock from inside and outside.

Our blockage was outside the bathroom, about a metre or so below ground where the pipe bends. It had concrete in it. There's a drain cover right above it where the concrete was.

latecomer

Do you have a cavity under the floor boards? If so you could remove some boards and try to trace the pipe yourself.

It could be a poorly designed drain thats causing the blockages but I would suspect there is a bigger problem. But until you can get access to the pipe to inspect it you can only guess. I would have thought that most plumbers will be able to deal with your problem.

wallofbeans

latecomer wrote: »

Do you have a cavity under the floor boards? If so you could remove some boards and try to trace the pipe yourself.

It could be a poorly designed drain thats causing the blockages but I would suspect there is a bigger problem. But until you can get access to the pipe to inspect it you can only guess. I would have thought that most plumbers will be able to deal with your problem.

im not sure whats under the floor in that room. it's a utility room / downstairs loo and the whole thing is tiled so the only way to get access is to take up at least a section of the tiles around the loo. No way around it, I dont think.