How to Unclog a Toilet

Series Summary

There are all sorts of odd jobs around the house that need fixing, but don't hire a professional handyman just yet. It may seem overwhelming, but most people are more than capable to take on all of these odd jobs and repair them without any help. Learn how to fix everything from locks with broken keys to clogged sinks and bathtubs. In this free video series on home maintenance and repair, let a home repair specialist and remodeling contractor explain some simple ways to maintain a home. First, he talks unclogging a toilet, unclogging a sink via natural means, testing home smoke detectors and changing smoke alarm batteries. Next, discover how to remove paint from a carpet, maintain an electric garage door, re-caulk a bathtub and maintain hard wood floors. Finally, he discusses using some household tools like a tape measure, orbital sander and hand saw.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Tim Gipson, and I'm going to show you how to unclog a toilet. Now, when your toilets get clogged, what you'll need, is you'll need a plunger. Now, this is a good type of plunger to have, and it's a high efficiency. Of course, you've got the standard ones, that just have a rubber base. I prefer these type, because you get a lot more force, to clear those clogs, so what we'll do when we have a clog, is we're going to put the plunger down, and now before we start plunging, you want to make sure you put a little bit of pressure on it, and you want to make sure you have a pretty good seal, down there at the base, of the commode, so now when you get it down here, we're just going to push, and you don't need to do this. If you do it too fast, you don't want stuff flying back up at you, believe me, so what we want to do, is we want to just apply slow, and forceful pressure, until you hear that clog clear, and you'll actually hear it drain down, so once we do that, flush your commode, and then to clear anything out as it's flushing, just rotate your plunger, and let that clean water clear any debris, that's out of your plunger, and you may want to do that a couple of times. Once we pull that out, just making sure our plunger drains real well, and then set it off to the side, and I'm Tim Gipson, and that's how to unclog your toilet."