Chapter 3: Last Resort Tactics
The unfortunate truth is that when it comes to unclogging toilets, they can't all be winners. If you have a plunger and an auger on hand, then you are covered 99% of the time. However, I have had instances where those tools didn't do it justice. Other times, you might be away from home and not have all the necessary tools you need. In this chapter, we will be covering some geurilla last-resort unclogging tactics.
So you don't have any tools
Everyone has days when they are down on their luck. You may very well find yourself in a tool-less toilet clog situation. There are a couple different scenarios that can play out here:
- You don't have the necessary tools in your place of living, but you are within walking distance of another living quarters that is likely to have some kind of unclog tool. In this case, as awkward as it is, you need to ask somebody to borrow their plunger. You may not like doing this, but it is most certainly preferred to some of the other things we are going to mention.
- You really don't have any tools. Believe it or not, this has happened to me before. I'm sure this situation could come up in multiple scenarios, but I'll explain how it happened to me. We were on vacation to family owned private property that has a house on it. Nobody lives there, but there is family in the area that maintains the property. Anyways, the toilet got clogged late one evening. Because nobody lives there, there was not a plunger to be found. There's one of two directions you can go with in this kind of situation. Either you go out to the store and buy the tool you need (which may not be an option in some cases) or you man up and unclog it yourself. If you have to do it yourself, here's the best way: slap on a double layer of latex gloves and get a plastic knife, or some disposable utensil of the sort. Basically, you need to chisel away at the feces until there is suffice room to flush or until another tool can finish the job. I have been a witness to last resort knife dislodges on multiple occasions. It's not fun, but sometimes it has to be done.
The tools I have don't work
You may find yourself in a position of not being able to unclog the toilet with your plunger. Make sure you are plunging properly first, but if it's still not coming undone there are a couple of measures you can take to fix your problem.
- Just keep plunging. I have had several occasions when I feel like there's just no way I'm going to get this unclogged with a plunger. Even if it feels like that, you may not have an auger in your house and the plunger is going to have to get the job done. In this case, I recommend you just keep plunging. I have plunged for 15 minutes before just trying to get one toilet unclogged. Sometimes, you just have to tell that poop who's boss with sheer determination.
- Get an auger. You may not want to do this, but if you commonly have trouble unclogging your toilets with a plunger, you may want to consider investing in an auger. You won't break the bank for one, and it is a particularly good investment if you have frequent big clogs.
- Break out the plastic knife. This is worst case scenario "I plunged for 30 minutes and I can't go out and buy an auger" material. This is when you legitimately know you can't get it unstuck because you've come to a plastic knife and brute force to solve your toilet clog problems. I already explained the process once in this article, so I'll omit the meticulous details here. As terrible of a method as it is, sometimes it's what you have to do to unclog your toilet.
In Conclusion
I don't want to make myself out to be some kind of toilet unclog wizard, but I have had my fair share of unclogging experience. I hope that this guide has been a help to you so far, and I hope particularly that this chapter has shed some light on what you might do in a last-resort unclog situation. Thanks for reading, and as always, have a great week!
