Common causes of a flooded bathroom

5/5/2022 (Permalink)

Bathroom floods can happen when:

Blocked toilet

As we said above, the worst thing you can do is repeatedly flush, as more water will sit on top of the blockage with nowhere to go, but up and out onto your bathroom floor. You need to isolate the toilet (find its isolation valve or shut off your mains water if needed), then unclog the toilet, possibly with a plunger or a plumber’s snake. Read our guide on to how to unblock a toilet and you’ll be able to resolve this with speed.

Leaking shower

A leaking shower that creates a flood in the bathroom may involve broken tapware or fittings, it could be a burst pipe behind the wall or it could be a hairline crack in your shower tray. Again, shut off the water as soon as you become aware of the flooding, then cut the power to the bathroom. Once you’ve mopped up, you can address the problem. Read our guide to troubleshooting and fixing a leaking shower for your next steps. Get general tips on how to detect a leak here and there’s some more advice on common water leaks in the home and how to fix them here.

Bath flooding

In a busy household with children running amok and a to-do list of a thousand tasks, a flooded bath can easily happen. Even an overflow in tip-top shape can only handle so much excess water until it’s defeated and submerged. What to do? Close the tap as soon as you can, pull out the plug, mop up and save your stuff.

How to prevent it ever happening again? Give yourself five minutes of peace and quiet by chaperoning the bath as it fills. If your children are old enough to be left in a room without you, you could even lock the door and do some deep breathing exercises or calmly drink a cup of tea on your own. Go on, you deserve it.

Child flooded the bathroom

Speaking of kids, those little darlings can often be the cause of bathroom flooding. They often leave the tap running after washing their hands with the plug in. They do things with wet tissue that we just can’t fathom, getting it down the sink and in the bath drain and overflow.

You’ll sometimes find the odd plastic toy down the toilet and, once children are in the bath themselves, they may decide to create their own tidal wave machine, shunting their bodies back and forth, spraying great splashes onto the floor like a ocean-faring speed boat. Your only solace is that you probably did it too! Keeping plenty of towels handy and getting them to mop it up themselves may prevent a replay.

Pipe and plumbing issues

A burst or blocked pipe can very easily cause a bathroom flood. Supply lines come into the sink, toilet, bath, behind the shower and even a bidet, so there are plenty of places for pipes to cause issues, including:
Burst pipes – this can be a pinhole leak in your water supply line, or caused by pipes freezing, expanding and cracking in winter and then thawing and leaking. Avoid this issue by making sure pipes that might be susceptible to freezing are appropriately lagged/insulated. You may be able to fix a pinhole leak with putty or tape, a repair clamp, or you may have to replace that part of the pipe.
Blocked pipes – this can be caused by hair, soap, wet wipes or tissue going down a drain and building up into a blockage. Avoid this issue by getting a drain guard (it looks like a mini sieve or colander that you place over the drain). To fix a blocked pipe you may need to use a plumbers snake or if that doesn’t work try a plunger.

for more info visit homeserve.com