Addition's bathroom not draining Please Help

[Mr_Frustrated]

Hi all,

I'm at my wits end and could use some suggestions on what could be happening at our house....

Overview: One bathroom, located in the newer addition to the house is not draining correctly. All other fixtures and drains in the original part of the house are unaffected.

The problem was first noticed when the shower stall was extremely slow to drain. After testing the other fixtures in the bathroom it was discovered that the bathroom sink was slow to drain and the toilet would not flush. Again, all other fixtures in the original part of the house are unaffected. It is only one bathroom located in the newer addition.

Naturally, we assumed that there was a clog somewhere in the drain after these three fixtures tied into one line, but before that line tied into the original house's main sewer. Thus, we snaked the toilet, the toilet drain with the bowl removed and the shower drain to the full 20' of a hand snake. No obstructions were encountered and only a minimal amount of hair came back on the snake.

Next, we opened the clean-out for that drain and found waste and paper had backed up nearly to the top. This was cleaned out and a high pressure bladder was used to clean and clear any obstruction from the clean-out to the original house's main sewer line.

The shower was checked again and appears to be draining fine now, but the toilet will flush once only if allowed to sit for hours and then will not flush again unless allowed to sit.

I'm at a loss. Is it possible the original problem was indeed a clog and that the toilet was damaged when snaking? Or could it be that there is a venting issue? I would hate to spend the money on a toilet, just to find that I hand't ruled something else out first that is the real culprit.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[johnjh2o]

It sounds like you haven't cleared the stoppage entirely. Using the blow bag may have removed any soft stoppage but there may be something in the line that is catching solid waste and paper. Maybe when the addition was under construction something fell into an open pipe. That would take a large power snake and someone experienced in drain cleaning to remove it.

 

[Mr_Frustrated]

Thank you, John. I had considered that as well, but the fact that the shower would drain fine, even while the toilet wouldn't didn't seem to make sense to me.

I might add that after letting the toilet sit for a while and periodically checking it, it is now flushing just fine. (10-12 times in a row with no stoppage). I'm going to continue to check it under different conditions (ie: before showering, during and after) and should I encounter flow problems again, I guess I'll either rent a bore camera to confirm a partial blockage or I'll admit defeat and call in a professional plumber.

This is exactly why I subcontract plumbing and electrical work out on my jobs.

 

[johnjh2o]

The reason the shower drains but the toilet wouldn't is because the shower uses a smaller volume of water at a time. The stoppage is just a partial stoppage. This may help you locate the problem. If it takes 10 - 12 flushes to backup that tells me the stoppage is quite a ways down the line.