What to Ask a Customer With an Overflowing Toilet Before Sending a Plumber

First, stop the water

• Is water still running over the rim? Have them turn the small valve on the wall behind the toilet clockwise until the water stops.
• If the valve will not turn or keeps leaking, they can lift the tank lid and raise the flapper or float to stop the fill, then use the main shutoff for the house if they know where it is.
• Ask them not to flush again, not even to test it.
• Is water near outlets, a floor heater or anything electrical? If yes: stay out of the water and away from it. If anyone feels unsafe, leave and call 911.
• Is water dripping through a ceiling below the bathroom? Note where, and keep people out from under it.

One toilet or the main line: the quick checks

• Do the other toilets, sinks and showers drain normally? If yes, it points to a clog in this one toilet.
• Does water rise in a tub, shower or floor drain when anything else is used? That points to the main line. Ask them to stop all water use in the house.
• Did anything go down that should not have, like wipes, a toy, paper towels or a product? Tell the plumber.
• Is it the clean water from the tank, or is it sewage coming up? Sewage means gloves on, and treat it like a backup.
• Have they already plunged it, or poured a drain chemical in? The plumber needs to know before they open anything.

What the plumber needs to know

• Which toilet, which floor, and whether there is a room or ceiling below it.
• Whether the shutoff valve worked, or whether the main had to be closed.
• Whether any other drain in the house is slow or backing up.
• What may have gone down, if they know.
• Whether this toilet has overflowed before, and how recently.
• Photos of the toilet, the floor and any ceiling below.

How it sounds on the phone

The three ways this goes wrong

• Taking the address while water is still on the floor. The shutoff comes first, every time.
• Telling them to flush again or pour in a drain chemical. Both make the plumber's job harder and the damage worse.
• Treating a main line backup as one clogged toilet, so the plumber arrives without the right equipment.

An overflowing toilet call is water stopped, no second flush, then one toilet or the main line, then the details. Ask in that order, and the floor stays drier, the ceiling below stays intact, and the plumber arrives ready.