Hello. We have been living in the house since June 1st. Since the bathroom upstairs was only completed about 4 weeks ago, we have been using the toilet there regularly only since then. For about 2 weeks, we have occasionally noticed a gurgling noise in the upstairs toilet. This means that so much water flows out of the toilet that the seal with the drain no longer closes completely, causing the noise. This happens only briefly because then so much water drains out that the toilet is almost empty. This does not occur in the downstairs toilet, although in my opinion more water could remain in the bowl there as well.
Yesterday, we experienced the following issue: the water in both the upstairs and downstairs toilets drained somewhat slowly. After flushing, water pooled in the bowl and then drained away, but with a slight delay. It took about 3 seconds for the water to disappear. Since then, a gurgling noise can also be heard from the downstairs shower when flushing. Immediately after showering, air bubbles were visible coming from the drain there. The water also drained poorly in the shower yesterday. I have just cleaned the shower thoroughly. Result: the water drains perfectly, but the gurgling noise when flushing continues to be audible.
What could be causing this problem?
Yesterday, we experienced the following issue: the water in both the upstairs and downstairs toilets drained somewhat slowly. After flushing, water pooled in the bowl and then drained away, but with a slight delay. It took about 3 seconds for the water to disappear. Since then, a gurgling noise can also be heard from the downstairs shower when flushing. Immediately after showering, air bubbles were visible coming from the drain there. The water also drained poorly in the shower yesterday. I have just cleaned the shower thoroughly. Result: the water drains perfectly, but the gurgling noise when flushing continues to be audible.
What could be causing this problem?
Everything should be connected.
We connected it ourselves with the help of a friend who is a civil engineer specializing in underground utilities and does this kind of work daily.
However, the inspection chamber at the drain really looks barely used. That makes me a bit suspicious. There’s only a tiny trickle flowing from left to right.
During the construction phase, nothing could really have been damaged since the pipe is buried very deep.
Since the water barely drained at all from the second shower this morning, I have now called someone to take a look. I hope they can come by today.
Currently, we can only shower downstairs because we discovered a leaking joint in the upstairs shower. I removed it on Saturday. Since it was already wet behind there, I’m leaving it open for a week. It wasn’t until Saturday evening that we really noticed the blocked pipe.
New home – new problems!
We connected it ourselves with the help of a friend who is a civil engineer specializing in underground utilities and does this kind of work daily.
However, the inspection chamber at the drain really looks barely used. That makes me a bit suspicious. There’s only a tiny trickle flowing from left to right.
During the construction phase, nothing could really have been damaged since the pipe is buried very deep.
Since the water barely drained at all from the second shower this morning, I have now called someone to take a look. I hope they can come by today.
Currently, we can only shower downstairs because we discovered a leaking joint in the upstairs shower. I removed it on Saturday. Since it was already wet behind there, I’m leaving it open for a week. It wasn’t until Saturday evening that we really noticed the blocked pipe.
New home – new problems!
In my condominium, the walk-in shower overflowed the first time it was used. It turned out that during the final cleaning, not only dust went into the drain—they later removed leftover mortar and whole strips of silicone from it.
Maybe some workers on your site also disposed of debris in the drain and didn’t flush it thoroughly afterward? I hope you can still access the clog and that no pipe is actually damaged...
Maybe some workers on your site also disposed of debris in the drain and didn’t flush it thoroughly afterward? I hope you can still access the clog and that no pipe is actually damaged...
Hello.
Yesterday, a friend came by while I was at work. He ran a camera through the pipe from the shaft up to the house. It couldn’t proceed past the edge of the house, but he didn’t find any faults up to that point. Apparently, it couldn’t go further near the house because the pipe runs under the foundation. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to continue in the evening when I got home.
Anyway, the following happened yesterday:
To pinpoint the problem area more precisely, I turned on the water room by room. The kitchen and utility room are next to each other, and water reached there. However, besides clean water, there was also toilet paper and other debris. There was quite a bit of gurgling noise as well.
I then turned off the water in those two rooms because only clear water was coming through. Then I moved to the guest bathroom, running the shower and flushing the toilet. After about 2 minutes, water was standing in the shower again. Only a trickle reached the drain. However, the gurgling was quite audible.
Then I turned the water back on in the kitchen and utility room. It got noticeably louder, and again a considerable amount of debris came back that shouldn’t have been in the kitchen or utility room. I repeated the sequence, first bathroom, then utility room and kitchen. It got loud again, and then a significant amount of material shot through the drain shaft that was quite noticeable. It seems that, for some reason, this cleared the blockage. Apparently, the problem was right at the junction between the ground floor bathroom pipe and the kitchen/utility room pipe.
As a test, I flushed the toilets upstairs and downstairs. Neither WC is making any noise anymore. The water level in the toilets is now also okay. Additionally, I let the shower run downstairs. Water is reaching the drain clearly. So everything should be fine now.
Do you still recommend a camera inspection from the toilet side? Or should I wait and see if anything else happens, which I hope it does not?
Yesterday, a friend came by while I was at work. He ran a camera through the pipe from the shaft up to the house. It couldn’t proceed past the edge of the house, but he didn’t find any faults up to that point. Apparently, it couldn’t go further near the house because the pipe runs under the foundation. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to continue in the evening when I got home.
Anyway, the following happened yesterday:
To pinpoint the problem area more precisely, I turned on the water room by room. The kitchen and utility room are next to each other, and water reached there. However, besides clean water, there was also toilet paper and other debris. There was quite a bit of gurgling noise as well.
I then turned off the water in those two rooms because only clear water was coming through. Then I moved to the guest bathroom, running the shower and flushing the toilet. After about 2 minutes, water was standing in the shower again. Only a trickle reached the drain. However, the gurgling was quite audible.
Then I turned the water back on in the kitchen and utility room. It got noticeably louder, and again a considerable amount of debris came back that shouldn’t have been in the kitchen or utility room. I repeated the sequence, first bathroom, then utility room and kitchen. It got loud again, and then a significant amount of material shot through the drain shaft that was quite noticeable. It seems that, for some reason, this cleared the blockage. Apparently, the problem was right at the junction between the ground floor bathroom pipe and the kitchen/utility room pipe.
As a test, I flushed the toilets upstairs and downstairs. Neither WC is making any noise anymore. The water level in the toilets is now also okay. Additionally, I let the shower run downstairs. Water is reaching the drain clearly. So everything should be fine now.
Do you still recommend a camera inspection from the toilet side? Or should I wait and see if anything else happens, which I hope it does not?
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