[dnharp]

In our upstairs bathroom, tub is on the right inside wall, sink then toilet on the left inside wall.....
Adult household, no chance of a child put something down the drain as no children have visited. Over past few months when running the sink faucets the water would drain then eventually stop draining and filled the bowl.

Plunging would help a bit or if you left it alone for a few hours the water eventually all drained. The next day before using the faucets I boiled pots of water to pour down the drain, hoping this would help clear whatever was causing the clog and clean the drain pipe a bit (did this 3 or 4 times over the past several months)

The toilet flushes with no problem and the tub seems to drain well. Presently running faucet water for awhile the bowl fills BUT NOW hours & hours later no water goes down at all!

Tonight we loosened the drain pipe, let the water drain into bucket, then took the pipe off including the elbow.....& right at the wall we snaked the drain pipe (that horizontal drain pipe in bathroom wall is about 9 yr old PVC from bathroom redo, rest probably original.......

house is old colonial city home over 80 yrs but solid). The snake went horizontally easily, then had some resistance probably where it took a turn down and then went thru easily again until we had no more snake to feed....When we brought the snake back out there was nothing on it, not even one single hair.
We did this 3 times. My husband measured the snake to be 22 feet! We put everything back together, ran hot water for awile and again the bowl filled. It has been over 3 hrs and the water is still at the full bowl level.

Toilet flushes and tub seems OK....no problems in rest of house. I am not familiar with inside wall plumbing, like if the sink drain meets the toilet drain. The tub must drain to the basement separate because below the bathroom is our house main hall entrance, as our house is a side entrance colonial.....the 1 bathroom window is on the outside wall right above this inside hall which has a high ceiling, above the ceiling is the bathroom floor.

I do know that the water pipes go across the floor, tub to sink, as the old ones were encased in the original old floor cement and were replaced with the redo. So if there seems to be no clog for 22 feet, what problem may we have? Should we think the clog is way down in the basement? Should we now call the professionals? OR is there something else we can DIY? Thank you for reading

 

[oh'mike]

Some times it is best to call in a plumber-----

Here are a couple of things that may have caused your failure to clear the clog---

1--You may have used a small hand auger and simply poked a hole through the clog---which closed back up after you ran the sing for a while---cure? Rent a larger electric rodder---looks like an electric drill with a can attached---

2---It is possible the snake went up the air vent--not down the drain-----there is a T inside the wall right behind the hole that the P=trap goes into----

3---the snake was just to short-----

when getting rodding done by a pro---I suggest you use a regular plumber rather than a company that only does sewer rodding---

That's my personal preference---a regular plumber has a very high skill set----ask friends and neighbors for a referral to a decient plumber---

 

[dnharp]

RE: upstairs bathroom clog problem

Thanks for your help! Overnight some of the sink water seeped down, little more than half. Down in the basement we spotted where the old drain pipes came down....sink drain must meet tub drain somewhere in a wall. Its old pipe, solid but old....& painted too! What we see has 2 traps (what I call elbows!) My husband checked the vent pipe on the roof and from the outside can see nothing blocking the top....I got that tip from replies in this DIY chat when other people posted their problems.
Since over the last few months it took more & more running water to back up in the sink, I am thinking that my few treatments to the clog may have pushed it way down.....A neighbor said maybe the plumber needs to go at those basement pipes, the clog may be in one of those old traps that we see.
LONG STORY on that redo!!! Looking back, maybe the right thing to have done was to have replaced all the old upstairs bathroom drain pipes with new PVC while everything was gutted....We had new drywall put in the hall below at the same time.....i know the water lines were replaced. That contractor did other short cuts that we gladly would have paid extra for & caused a list of problems for us then and now...he did great tile work!

I thank you for your reply to hire a professional plumber and did just speak with a neighbor for a referral. Guess I just needed a push in that direction. This has always been stuff that interests me, so I try to DIY or understand it whenever I can. These days I am so happy to have the internet where I can get feedback from people with the knowledge, as yourself .....Thanks for reading and replying :thumbup:

 

[oh'mike]

Knowing how a house works,and the way to fix a problem is worth the effort to learn---even if you don't do any of the work your self---

It was short sighted not to have replaced the drains when the bath was being updated----it would have added so little to the cost at that time----