Personally, I never liked going to my basement. It always was that creepy, eerie room filled with cobwebs and unused items. I would have never realized that same room held the foundation for my entire house’s drainage system. Not until my toilet clogged up and I traced its roots to my basement.
Surprisingly I found my basement flooded with stagnant water as well. The pipes just gave in. I had only my neglectful behavior to blame. Not everyone is aware of these common basement toilet problems, which can turn out to be a nuisance.
Hence, I prepared this informative article to highlight the importance of a well-maintained basement.
Common Basement Plumbing Problems with Solutions
The basement is often the most overlooked part of a household. Most people barely visit their basements, let alone take care of them. But we often tend to forget that most of our plumbing system lies in the depths of our basement. Several pipes of the drainage system are located at the basements.
We barely pay any attention to it, which often leads to a flooded basement or, even worse, a broken drainage system. Some of the common plumbing problems in basements are listed below. We have also presented their respective solutions under the same category.
A Clogged Toilet
If you have a toilet in your basement, then more often than not, you will end up with a clogged toilet. This can often be caused by low water pressure in the pipes, which decreases the efficiency of the flushing system. The following dilemma can cause more discomfort than you can imagine.
The constant overflow due to clogging can flood the floors with stagnant water. You can easily take care of this with a plunger at the initial stage. One can also resort to an unclogging agent for maximum effect. You can even prevent this from happening by installing an upflush toilet in your basement.
Upflush toilets have a macerator pump that generates sufficient water pressure with each flush. This reduces the possibility of your toilet ever getting clogged up.
Frozen Pipes in Winter
Another common problem in cold countries is the freezing of drainage pipes in the basement. This is often an issue during winter when the temperature is so low that pipes freeze and hinder the water flow. The entire plumbing system of the household will take a toll in this case.
The solution to this is pretty simple yet time-consuming. All you need to do is apply heat to the pipes in your basement using a hairdryer or infrared lamp. You can also turn up the heater in your house and wait for the drainage pipes to thaw.
After a significant amount of time water will start flowing to the toilet’s flush tanks.
Sump Pump
When you talk about basement toilet solutions, it’s only fair to include the sump pump in the context. This is an effective drainage system that prevents flooding in basements. It also eliminates stagnant water from the basement floor in terms of a clogged toilet overflowing.
The sump basin in the basement collects the water residue and pushes it out of the basement with just a few pumps. This lets the water out and hinders the possibility of flooding. However, since the sump pump is always exposed, it can also accumulate some debris that might block it.
You can put a stop to that as well. All you need to do is turn it on every month and keep it as clean as possible on a regular basis.
Also, you can read our article on – why is my basement drain backing up when toilet is flushed?
Final Words
By now, it’s safe to say that each one of you could relate to at least one of the basement toilet problems we discussed in today’s article. Most of it can be prevented pretty easily, while others require preventative measures. If this proves too much for you to take, try to hire a professional instead.
