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Triple master contractor Ed Del Grande
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By Ed Del Grande
Q: Hi, Ed. This may seem like a silly question, but my husband and I have an ongoing disagreement and we'll go along with whatever you say. Our toilet is about twenty years old and we have lived in the house about eight years. The issue is my husband flushes his dental floss down the toilet daily! He said there are no traps for anything to get caught on. Lately the toilet has not flushed well and he says it's from old age. I say it's from him flushing all that dental floss down the toilet! Who is right, and what do we do to fix our old slow toilet? Thanks for any info. Jane (Oregon)
A: Don't ask me how this happened, but for a home improvement columnist, I end up solving a lot of marriage disputes! Usually I try to stay neutral, but with this one it gives me great pleasure to say; Jane, you're husband is way out of line by throwing his dental floss into a toilet! What is he thinking? I'm always amazed at what people assume they can throw into a toilet, from q-tips to tea bags and everything in between. I have spent my entire working career pulling things out of toilets that should have never been thrown in there in the first place!
As you can tell by now, you hit a nerve with this question. First, tell your husband that toilets do have traps. Second, even if the floss makes it past the toilet trap and flange, a bigger problem is eventually having dental floss stuck in your main drains. Hair clogs happen over time from single strands of hair getting all stuck together inside the drains. I can only imagine what might be pulled from your drain, and I'm not surprised you're having flushing problems.
As far as fixing the toilet, since it is an older style toilet that probably guzzles a lot of water anyway, I would recommend getting a new "bulk flushing" water-saving toilet. Bulk flushing toilets deliver strong flushes with smaller amounts of water. If you replace the old toilet you will also get a chance to snake out the toilet drain when the old toilet is removed. This way you'll be able to start fresh with a new toilet and clear toilet drains, plus you can expect a big water savings with the new environmentally friendly toilets.
Finally, I'm sure that your husband is a wonderful man with a very nice smile from all that flossing, but you seem to be the plumbing expert in the family. Experts get to set the rules, and now that I have proclaimed you the official toilet boss, you can order him to stop foolishly flushing the floss!
Ed Del Grande was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.
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