Help, roller stuck in toilet... What to do..

[Achutch]

Call a plumber

I would call a plumber. When I was a kid (early '60's), my dear sister flushed a toy hand mirror down our 1949 "Standard" CADET. I was right there when she did it. It went down very fast and lodged there. I thought nothing of it until on the next flush, the water came all the way up to the top of the bowl. My mother went to the store and bought one of those cheap orange plungers that kept turning itself inside out. Then my father made an emergency trip home from work with a heavy duty plunger. My mother worked on it all day, and the water was once again going down, but slowly. IN THE EVENING, Dad ended up calling a plumber who brought an auger. He thought he got it, but this was a particularly tough hand mirror, and an hour later, he was back. This time, he broke the mirror with the auger and it went down. Some time later, my bar of pine scented soap disappeared. Yup, she flushed that down too. The toilet swallowed it and kept it down, and I was not happy!! You need a professional to get that wooden spindle out. Good luck!

Matt

 

[Gina]

Ok If I am understanding right. The roller is still lodged in the toilet itself. So If I call a plumber in he will "Hopefully" with his skills get the roller out, using his auger.

So I should stop trying myself......

I am just hoping the roller is still in the toilet itself...

I have to say thanks to all who helped me ...What a great site this is..

Many thanks

I will keep you posted as to what goes on....

Gina

Ok i Will try one last time, but i have a wire piece and i made a hook on it, but i cant seem to find the hole that goes in the back of the toilet and down. I keep getting stuck right in the begining and i seems as if i am just hitting the back of the bowl.. Anu suggestion ..HELP

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Plumber1]

roller

It's in there.

It's probably up and over the hump and laying there almost at the outlet and the roller is too long to make it through.

Tis better to take the toilet up and roll it over on it's SIDE and work the roller out, maybe in pieces....

 

[Gina]

Thank you .. I have given up......

Here are my options.....

My sister is coming soon, she good at stuff like this...... Can we handle this project by our selves. We would have to buy a ring sealer right.... And I am sure new bolts, as the other one look ugly........Is there a instruction thingy to follow maybe on the interent some where....


Ok

If all else fails, my son's friend is a plumber, I could ask him to come over and try to get it out before we take apart the toilet....But I really hate to ask..
He is a professional plumber, but is the roller to far gone for a professional plumber to try to get it out.... should we try that before we remove the toilets ourselves...


Or I can try the removal of the toilet with my sister and then if we can't get it back togther then call my son friend dad.....

I thing I am going totally toilte nuts LOL

Thanks again

you guys have been wonderful.......

 

[Plumber1]

roller

I've known gals that have tackled this kind of job and found that it isn't as difficult as they thought.

If you try it you can always come back to this site for help...

 

[SteveW]

How's your upper body strength?

It's not a hard job, but there are a number of pitfalls. Toilets are a little heavy, and someone has to be able to bend over the flange (the transition between the drain system and the toilet, which is bolted to the floor) while holding the toilet above the flange, center it, and carefully lower the toilet right onto the flange. If you miss the target, you need to take off the wax ring and put on a new one.

To lighten the toilet, you can take off the tank, but then you'll have to reattach it, using new hardware you'll have to buy, and there is a risk of leaks at several places when attaching a tank.

On the other hand, if something goes wrong and you have a leak at the flange, and something (like the subfloor, or the ceiling of the apartment below you) gets damaged, the landlord will assume it's your fault and you'll be on the hook to pay for damage.

If I were in your shoes, I'd call the landlord, or a professional plumber.

 

[Gina]

Why call the land lord? It was my childs fault, I take responsiblity. I will fix it. Unless because I rent she had the responsililty of keeping thing in shape eventhought my kid did it......

I think I am the only one willing to pay for my on mistake...

any one out there a land lord..

HELP.....

 

[Gary Swart]

Not a landlord, but here's something to consider. If you were to break the toilet while attempting this job, you then would be stuck for the cost of a new toilet. Now, as I posted before, this is not really a super difficult job, but sometimes things happen. It might be wise if you were to discuss the problem and what you are prepared to do with the landlord first.

 

[Cass]

IF the landlord has more than 30-40 units he may have a plumber that works for him at a reduced rate. You can ask him.

Personaly I won't work on a house if called by a tennant, even if the tennant calls and says they will pays because it is not their house. I always ask that the tennant have the LL call me first. Many LLs don't want anyone working on their units except their contractors.

 

[Gina]

Cass

I see your point, this is a one family house, converted into a legal two family. So It is only me and the landlord. Last time we had a clog , she called her own plumber, well he is a plumber for the city in which we live in and my landlord is friends with his wife. So he comes for small problems, not large one. She is just a sweet heart of a landlord. I will tell her what happen and what I intend to do. My sister and I will tackle this toilet next saturday, thats when she will be down and I am under doctors orders for no heavy lifting for 3 days . If I crack the bowl, I will be back on this board for recommondation for a new good bowl LOL ...............

So I wont have an update until next saturday night

wish me luck

any tips

this is a very small bathroon so room is very tight...

CAn some one direct me to a site that give me step by step direction on how to take PART the toilet..

THANKS SO MUCH GUYS I REALLY APPRECIATE THE HELP

AHHH WISH ME LUCK

can you guys tell me what i need

some kind of seal ring, what about bolts.

does the seal ring come in sizes....

 

[Cass]

You won't be taking the toilet apart. You will be looking in the hole on the bottom for the roller. If it can't be gotten out through that hole you may be able to push it back into the toilet bowl. It may drop out when you tip the toilet.

 

[Gina]

Cass

Sorry to be a pain, but what exactly am I doing. I am only tipping the toilet after i get the bolts off?

Cass could you tell me excatly what I am doing, or give me a web site that show me what to do.

Thanks Gina

Oh can I do this my self with out the help of my sister.

gina

 

[Gary Swart]

Gina, the toilet is held down by those two bolts, so it will not move very much until the nut nuts are removed from the bolts. Once the nuts are off and the supply line is removed, there is nothing holding the toilet down except for the goo on the wax ring. When you get the toilet up, you will want to lay it on its side to clean the old wax ring off. This can be messy, so have a good supply of newspaper to keep the mess off of the floor. Any water left in the bowl and/or tank will drain out now, so do a good job of sponging before you pull the toilet up. Scrape as much of the wax off as possible, then some paint thinner, paper towels, and rags will get the rest. If the roller is still in the toilet, just reach up through the drain hole and you should be able to knock it back into the bowl. Have a large rag like an old towel that you can plug the flange with while you have the toilet up. That will block sewer gas.

 

[Gina]

Ok thanks for all your help. I will be doing all this next saturday. Are the wax rings all the same size?

Is the flange, the hole in the bathroom floor where the toilet sat on? You want me to plunge that a few times?

Thanks guys, this should be a fun day ..LOL

will let you al know how it turned out.

Gina

 

[Jadnashua]

Plunging the flange isn't what he meant...plug it up while you are working...it is a straight shot with nothing to block the sewer gasses from coming out. Normally, the water in the toilet blocks those gasses, but you've taken that out!

 

[SuperSewist]

I'll chime in from the landlord side: I would ALWAYS prefer the tenant call me first. It takes awhile for my new ones to come 'round, to understand that I will not get mad at them. A lot of tenants are scared of their landlords - I've met a few LL that are pretty scary myself! Anyhow, the way I see it, it is my property and I prefer to make the decisions about major stuff. And as was mentioned before, I have my favorite plumber who knows how I like it & will take extra steps if needed. Even if I need to charge back to the tenant, this is way better IMO. And also as was mentioned, I get a discount and because I'm already a client, speedy service. Plumbers are way busy here and many aren't taking new clients.

From the other side, I've removed & set toilets many times. The first was kinda weird, but cool in a "so that's how they do it" kind of way. For a first timer, two people is a definite go, one to hold the toilet & one to line it up. Straight down, slow & easy, right in the middle of the flange, and then I like to sit on it for good pressure all the way around, then snug down the bolts. I've never tightened them "real tight", others might correct me (please do) Well that's my two cents, have fun with it, I think it's a wonderful adventure to do this kind of work. Allow for lots of time & a trip to the hardware store - reduces frustration when it takes longer than you think.

-~Carol~-

 

[Gina]

Carol

Thanks for all your tips...I know my landlord doesnt have a plumber for this job she a little guy for small clogs.. But you are right, I will tell her first and ask her what she would like me to do.

Ok who lives In Westchester , Ny and want to solve my problem and come over and do this for free......LOL

 

[Cass]

Tightning a toilet down and knowing when to stop is something you learn. Not tight enough and it will leak, to tight and it will break. There are no tork specs. that I know of.

 

[JDkimes]

Well did you (or someone) get that toilet off. If you're lucky that piece of wood is still in the toilet. If you owned the place, and the thing was still in the toilet you'd be just as well to replace the toilet while you have it off (you said it was a pretty old toilet).

 

[Gina]

Ho guys

I am having a hell of a time getting the supply line disconnected. It is a solid pipe up to the tank. Do I just pull it once i have losses the plastic nut?

Help?