How to Prevent and Fix Kid-Related Plumbing Issues - Wisler Plumbing & Air

We love our kids, but their shenanigans in the home are usually water-related. For some reason, kids have a fascination about putting things into the toilet and watching them disappear. (The movie Finding Nemo wasn’t very good for the plumbing trade.) Even though a goldfish probably won’t be very harmful, there are certain things that just aren’t supposed to be flushed down the toilet. If they get lodged in, the toilet could start overflowing.

Water isn’t supposed to overflow from a toilet sink or shower tub onto the floor. Whenever your children are using the bathtub, shower, toilet, or sink, make sure they are taking care not to make a mess. If you can teach them or keep them supervised, you can prevent water from soaking into the floor and getting into the wood, which could lead to mold, water damage on ceilings, and damage to various different components throughout your home.

It’s pretty common for us to run into floors that have begun to rot to the point that they have become weak. Kids go crazy in the bathtub day after day, and if a little bit of water gets on the floor every single time they take a bath, it causes the rotting over time. If kids are going to play in the tub, it might be a good idea not to fill it quite so full. That way, there won’t be as much of a tendency for water to splash out. If you’re going to allow children to take a shower, be conscious of the curtains. Make sure they aren’t positioned so that water will pour right onto the floor or walls.

Most tubs have an overflow, and if it isn’t used very frequently or if it’s very old, the overflow can leak and cause water to run down behind the tub and onto the ceiling. There’s a gasket behind the overflow and if it gets old, cracked, or worn out, it’s going to leak and cause water to end up on the actual ceiling below the tub. Make sure that everyone understands that the chrome/metal looking plate right above the drain is an overflow and it’s not meant to continuously receive water all the time. It’s really only for emergency situations to prevent water from running out onto the floor.

Kids also tend to use toilets, sinks, faucets, and tubs for climbing up to hard-to-reach places. Standing on a toilet to climb onto the sink isn’t a very good idea. The toilet tanks aren’t made to withstand that kind of force, and it could end up breaking and pouring a large amount of water onto the floor. We’ve seen it before where a child would climb on the back of the toilet tank so they could get to the sink and wash their hands. Not only is that unsafe, but it can cause a mess in no time.

If you know that your kid has flushed something that they weren’t supposed to, you might want to try removing it. You could use a shop vac to suck the water out of the toilet and maybe also retrieve the object. That might save you from a service call. Otherwise, you’ll need to contact a plumber. If you do get water on the floor, try to prevent more water from spilling and mop it up as quickly as possible. If you notice that someone has been climbing on a toilet or other fixture, pay close attention to it and make sure there’s no water around the floor. If there is, you should call a plumber to come and take a look at it. If you have problems with a shower curtain continually putting water on the floor, consider installing a shower door.

If you need us to remove an object from your toilet, take a look at a fixture that kids have been climbing, or install a shower door, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.