Overflowing Toilet in La Vernia or San Antonio: How to Stop It

Shut off the water to the bowl

1. Take the lid off the tank and set it on a towel; the porcelain chips easily.
2. Close the flapper, the rubber seal over the tank's drain hole. Press it down and free the chain if it's caught under it. Tank water is clean supply water, so reaching in is fine.
3. Lift the float, the ball or plastic cup on the water, and hold it up. That shuts the fill valve.
4. Close the stop valve below the tank, clockwise by hand. Hard water scales these valves. If one hasn't moved in years, skip the pliers, because a brittle stem can snap.
5. If it won't turn, use the main shutoff: on city water, the house valve where the line comes in or the customer valve beside the meter, or at the well house or pressure tank on a private well. Switching off the well pump breaker also works.

Plunge it the right way

Most single-toilet clogs are paper or a wipe stuck in the trap, the curve built into the porcelain.

1. Use a flange plunger, which has a rubber sleeve under the cup that fits the drain hole. A flat sink plunger won't seal.
2. Adjust the water. Bail some into a bucket if the bowl is brimming, or add some if the cup isn't covered.
3. Push gently at first so trapped air doesn't splash water over the rim, then pump steadily for about twenty seconds and pull it off sharply. Repeat a few times.
4. Test with the flapper, not the handle. Once the water drops, reopen the stop valve and lift the flapper briefly, letting it fall if the bowl climbs.

Still stuck? A closet auger, a crank snake with a sleeve that protects the porcelain, reaches past the trap. Leave chemical openers on the shelf; for septic homes the EPA recommends a snake. A toy or phone down the drain can mean pulling the toilet off the flange; see toilet repair and installation.

Other drains backing up? Look past the toilet

A toilet clog only affects that toilet. A blockage farther down, in the main drain or the sewer line out to the street or septic tank, makes water from the whole house rise at the lowest opening. Signs:

• the tub fills with dirty water when someone flushes or the washer drains
• the toilet gurgles while a sink empties
• every drain slows at once
• water seeps from the yard cleanout cap

Plunging won't clear a main line and can push sewage into the tub. Shut off the washer and dishwasher, hold off on showers, and call. Drain cleaning opens the line through a cleanout; a camera inspection then shows whether roots, grease or a broken pipe will bring the clog back.

In San Antonio, SAWS has customers hire a licensed plumber for a blockage on their side and clears its own side. Inside La Vernia, sewer mains are the Public Works Department's; a clog in the line on your property is a plumbing job. SAWS's prevention rule: only the 3 Ps (pee, poop and toilet paper) get flushed. Sewage already in a tub? Read our guide to sewage backing up in the tub.

Homes on septic: stop the water, then find the blockage

Out on acreage near La Vernia, Stockdale and Poth, the toilet usually empties into a septic tank. When toilets and tubs back up together on septic, stop running water at once, then pin down where the trouble is:

• The line between house and tank. Wipes, paper and roots clog it like any drain pipe. Clearing it through the cleanout is plumbing work, and we do it.
• A full tank or failing drain field. That's septic company work. TCEQ says to have the tank pumped by a TCEQ-registered sludge hauler, usually every three to five years.

To prevent a repeat, spread laundry across the week instead of doing it all in one day.

Clean water or sewage? Clean up accordingly

• Tank or supply water is clean. Mop, lift rugs and run fans.
• Bowl water has touched waste even if it looks clear. Mop with gloves on, then disinfect the floor and the toilet base.
• Sewage from the drain carries germs. Keep children and pets away, wear gloves and rubber boots, and wash up afterward. For sewage damage, the EPA recommends a professional experienced with contaminated water.

The EPA says drying wet areas within 24 to 48 hours usually keeps mold from growing. If water from upstairs soaks a ceiling, cut power at the breaker to any light fixture it reached. A toilet that rocks or leaks at its base afterward needs a new wax seal.

When to call a plumber

• Sewage comes up anywhere besides the toilet.
• The stop valve won't close, or the bowl keeps filling.
• Plunging and an auger haven't cleared it, or it clogs again within a week.
• Something solid went down.
• Water leaks at the base or stains the ceiling below.
• On septic, drains back up even after you've cut water use.

Sewage coming up, or water you can't stop, counts as an emergency: call at any hour and we send our on-call plumber right away. Non-urgent work, like a slow toilet or a repair after cleanup, gets scheduled at a time that suits you.

Overflowing toilet FAQ

Call about an overflowing toilet

Call (830) 475-2604. Say whether it's one toilet or several drains, and whether the house is on city sewer or septic. We serve Floresville, La Vernia, Seguin, Schertz and Cibolo, St. Hedwig, Adkins and China Grove, and San Antonio's east side.