Upstairs Toilet Overflowed And Leaked Through Ceiling[Do’s & Don’t]

A toilet overflowing is a very common phenomenon that every household faces in his life. This is something that nobody wants to deal with but what if your next morning surprises you with a leakage ceiling because the upstairs toilet overflowed?

You can’t sit relaxed in this situation, you need to find the cause of leakage by inspecting your toilet and have to make sure that the toilet is fixed properly.

But the main problem is that many households don’t have past experience with such incidents and they don’t have any idea how to fix a leaky toilet.

This article is about how to fix an overflowed upstairs toilet and prevent the contaminated water from spilling onto the floor. We will also discuss what to do and what to avoid doing yourself and when you’ve to take expert helps. 

How To Fix An Overflowed Upstairs Toilet

There are many reasons behind an overflowed toilet such as:

1. Flushing too much toilet paper into the bowl. 
2. Inadequate water supply from the toilet tank, which causes waste material stuck in the toilet.
3. Damping some plastic items by the children.
4. Damping sanitary pads by women. 
5. Maybe some foreign particles were stuck into the pipe. 

Some effective methods to fix an upstairs overflowed toilet are:

1. You can use a plunger to unclog a clogged toilet without hassle. When you press it down and upward several times, It will push upward the stuck item and then drain it with the water. 

2. If you don’t have a plunger then you can use a clothes hanger to unclog your toilet. In its normal shape, it is not very useful, you need to bend it using a plier. 

Open it with the help of a plier from one side and attach a piece of cloth to its other side so that it can not damage your toilet bowl. 

Wear your hand gloves and put them inside the hole of the toilet bowl and rotate it in one direction. If you find something stuck inside the bowl pipe then press it by rotating its hanger, and your toilet becomes unclogged. 

3. Toilet Auger is also an effective tool to fix an overflowing toilet. 

4. Vaccum valve is another best option to unclog a clogged toilet and prevent overflowing. 

I’ve already discussed a detailed step-by-step guide about using these tools to fix an overflowing toilet effectively.

You can check this article Toilet Overflowed With Poop [A Quick Fix Guide]

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Inspect Other Source Of Leakage In The Bathroom

After fixing the toilet overflow problem you need to troubleshoot these elements of your toilet to inspect if other parts of your toilet cause leakage or not :

1. Inspect The Condition Of The Washers Of The Tiolet Tank

The washer creates an airtight seal and prevents water leakage from the toilet tank. It is located under the toilet tank flush system. 

To check it, you need to close the water supply first. To do so close the water supply valve located below the toilet tank water pipe.

Now open the lid of the toilet tank, and empty its water by pressing its flush switch. Now open all the nuts and bolts using a wrench and check if all the washers are in good condition or not. Replace them if they are worn out.

2. Check The Flush System Of Your Toilet 

The flush system has one flapper and one floating ballcock. A fastener controls the amount of water that should be allowed to fill in the toilet tank.

It also manages the flushing cycle. With time the nuts and bolts that secure them in their place become loose and can be fixed by tightening them using a wrench.  

3. Check The Toilet Base To Detect Leakage

The toilet bowl is sealed with the floor of your bathroom with a wax ring. If it has some problem then it also causes a toilet leakage. 

A wax ring is hard to replace yourself. Either you need to take the help of other family members or you have to contact a plumber service to replace it.

Also Check: How To Sanitize After Toilet Overflows[A Complete Guide]

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Inspect The Upstair Floor For Water Damage

After inspecting all the possible causes of overflowing and fixing them perfectly, you need to check how much the upstairs floor is affected by water damage. 

I’ve divided the percentage of damage into three levels:

Level 1: Clean Water Leak Through The Ceiling

If you encounter clean water leakage through the ceiling then the leakage is in the water pipeline and not your toilet. 

Level 2: Grey Water Leak Through The Ceiling

Grey water is a clear sign of water leakage from your toilet. This is contaminated water and is not good for you and your family’s health. 

Level 3: Black water Leak Through The Ceiling

This is sewage water coming due to toilet overflow and filling and soaking by the floor of upstairs and leaking through the ceiling. This is horrible and you need to take expert help immediately to fix it. 

Also Read: Effective Ways To Prevent Mold After Toilet Overflow

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DO’s and DON’Ts of Handling Toilet Overflow

What To Do Yourself When A Upstairs Toilet Overflows?

You can fix some water-leaking problems in your toilet yourself by inspecting:

• Toilet tank
• Toilet bowl
• Water supply line

You can fix your overflow toilet using some home-held items such as a plunger, cloth hanger, bleaching powder, baking soda, vinegar, etc. 

After fixing the normal leakage and toilet overflow problem, you have to clean the floor, wall, and carpet using a dry and wet vacuum cleaner, and mop using some dry clothes to dry the excess water from the upstairs floor. 

If you find that there is no sign of leakage, these steps help to dry the floor from the water that goes inside it, and after a few days, you will notice that the water leakage has stopped from the ceiling. 

What You Should Not Do When A Upstairs Toilet Overflows?

After applying all the fixing procedures, if there is a sign of water leakage in your toilet then it will affect badly the upstairs floor and the ceiling below the bathroom as well. 

If you encounter grey or black water leaking through the ceiling below a bathroom then immediately contact the professionals to fix the issue. 

Usually, the initial sign of damage is not visible, you need to take the help of an expert to identify the actual damage to the upper floor and the ceiling below an overflowed toilet.

This will ensure the safety of your family in case of severe damage.   

Also Read: Toilet Overflow Without Flushing [Causes & Solutions]

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How To Prevent Future Toilet Overflow If Your Bathroom Is Located Upstairs

If you don’t want that the upstairs toilet to overflow and leak through the ceiling in the future then avoid this wrongdoing with your toilet such as:

1. Always flush properly and check the toilet tank, if it supplies enough water to flush or not. 
2. Don’t throw too much toilet paper into the bowl because it can be stuck into the sewage pipe and cause an overflow. 
3. Educate your children to not put their toys and other foreign objects into the bowl.
4. Women have to avoid flushing sanitary pads into the toilet bowl. 
5. If anything goes wrong do some basic troubleshoots mentioned in this article, to avoid making the situation worse. 
6. Take professional help if the leakage won’t fix by basic troubleshooting. 

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Conclusion

I hope this article will help you to fix the upstairs toilet overflowing problem that causes ceiling leakage issues below the bathroom. 

You have to fix the overflow problem of the upstairs toilet first, clean all the contaminated water and solid waste, then dry the floor off so that the leaking problem will fix. 

I’ve also mentioned what to do yourself and where to take professional help to prevent things from going wrong.

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FAQ