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10th Mar 2020

I was today years old when I learned that you can unblock a toilet with a mop

Melissa Carton

It’s a serious game changer.

Yesterday something happened that has happened to many of us. The toilet got blocked.

My eldest child used a crazy amount a toilet roll and then attempted to flush it causing the toilet to nearly overflow with water.

I know what you’re thinking, a plunger will sort that out and yes it would have. The only problem is that I am not currently the owner of a plunger. We used to have one in the last apartment that we rented but it didn’t belong to us and it completely slipped my mind to invest in our own one.

With all this in mind I had to put on my thinking cap because there was no way I was leaving it until I was able to find a hardware store.

herfamily-dublin-letting-scene

So how did I go about fixing my loo with absolutely no plunger?

With a trusty old mop of course.

It might sound a bit weird but trust me it works and I personally found it’s actually much better because well, the handle is a lot longer so you don’t have to be as close to the really gross blocked toilet. Nobody wants to be near that.

My toilet bowl was already pretty full with water when I went at it with the mop but if your toilet is blocked with little to no water in the bowl, pour some water in with a jug as it will help create the suction you need to rid the blockage.

Stick your mop in as far as you can and start plunging. I will also add that you should have a mop bucket on hand to stick the dirty mop into.

When you feel like the blockage is starting to move and has drained some of the water give the toilet a flush. The bowl might start to fill again so go in with your mop a second time. Repeat a few times if you need to but trust me the toilet will clear and you’ll feel like a mop magician.

This has become a real game changer for me and honestly I don’t know if I’ll actually bother buying a plunger after all, not when I’ve got my trusty mop on hand.

It’s a very multipurpose tool you know.