Don’t Flush These Things Down Your Toilet

It’s one of the last things that you want to see in your bathroom. You flush your toilet only to see that it doesn’t go down, resulting in the floor being a mess. This is often due to items that you shouldn’t flush down the toilet either intentionally or accidentally. Here are just a few items that you want to keep on your list of things not to flush.

Wipes and Towels

One way to avoid a plumber in your home is not to flush paper towels or wipes down the toilet. While there are some wipes that are designed to be flushable, you shouldn’t always listen to the packaging as some of them could be too thick for your septic system. Baby wipes are among these are they are often thicker than those that are supposed to be flushable. Although paper towels might feel thin like toilet paper, you want to keep them out of the toilet as they usually don’t disintegrate as easily and are often larger than toilet paper, which can result in them getting stuck in the pipes.

Cotton Supplies

That Q-tip that you use to clean your ears or the cotton balls and pads that you use on your face and other areas of your body should be put in the trashcan. These can cause quite a bit of damage to sewer lines due to their odd shape and the thickness of the cotton. When you flush several of these items over time, they can tend to stick together, not allowing for waste to get through the lines. Feminine products fall into this category as well as most are made with cotton. These items are designed to absorb moisture, which means that they can balloon up if they are flushed.

Toys

If you have children, then you know that they might not be able to avoid the swirling of the water in the toilet bowl. This can result in them putting toy cars or other items in the toilet to see if they can be flushed down or so that they can see them disappear. However, these will usually clog the lines fairly quickly, resulting in a pool of water on the floor. Try to keep the bathroom door closed at all times. You can also monitor bathroom time with children while teaching them that there are only certain items that are to be put in the toilet.

If you find yourself swimming in your bathroom after items are flushed, consider contacting a plumber to get things flowing again.