I know you can’t imagine your morning without using your bathroom. And now every house has too many toilets attached to every room. Do you know that adding an extra bathroom can raise your apartment’s price by around 20%? This is the most critical corner of every house. But everything comes with some problem, and many times, you are the reason for this problem. Just like that, one day, you accidentally get a clogged toilet with a hard object into the trap valve. Most of the time, kids are the reason for this problem. So, how do you get something out of the toilet after you’ve flushed it? Let’s see how we can fix it ourselves and get an average washroom like before.
What is a Toilet Trap?
I know many people don’t have a clear idea about their toilets. And sometimes it leads you to some disaster. Like when you don’t see the structure and try to clean on your own, by hard-hitting, you can end up with a broken toilet with a mess in the whole restroom. That’s why you need to know some fundamental parts of the bathroom. And this is common in every bathroom.
And just like that, the toilet trap is the main thing you need to know first. This trap is a curved channel under the toilet bowl or inside the toilet base. It starts from a round hole at the bottom of the bowl to the wastage pipe. This is mainly used to back up the toilet when any clog doesn’t happen.
How does the toilet trap work?
A toilet trap is not only given back up at the bottom of the toilet. These curves are mainly used to prevent the building from entering sewer gasses. If you have any chance to see the bathroom base, you will find a “P-trap.” This is easily seen in the sink or shower, even in the bathtub. And this trap is instrumental in keeping the waste drain from a major clog if you throw any big complex type thing in the bathroom. And believe it or not, most of the time, children are the villain for throwing many things into the toilet.
How does a toilet trap get blocked by any objects?
Many people don’t know how they end up with a clogged toilet. The first thing is throwing some unwanted stuff into the washroom. And you see a bathroom mainly designed for collecting human waste. So if you pour another hard thing into it, you end up with a dirty, clogged toilet. But people are not the reason for this kind of bathroom every time. Sometimes accidentally falling hard, things also make a big fuss in the restroom. And if you have a baby in your house, I don’t think I need to explain how they are curious about everything and throw things here and there. They love their toys, and sometimes they throw them in the washroom. And if it just resulted in a block washroom.
So if you notice first, then try to solve this by yourselves. Otherwise, you need to call a plumber; if it is worse, it needs to open up. Before going this far, let’s see how to solve this problem quickly.
How to remove the object from the toilet trap?
You can follow many steps to remove anything from the toilet trap to the bowl. Let’s see some of most of the standard measures people love to follow when they face this type of problem:
Use your hand
I know some people find it disgusting, but it is the most common and easiest way to clean up this mess or your kid’s mess. You need to follow some steps to remove this.
- First, switch off the water supply.
- Then try to empty the toilet bowl. You can use any water scooper to remove as much water as possible. Reaching the exact place when the toilet bowl is empty will be easy.
- When you throw maximum water from the bowl, you can notice the opening of the toilet trap. Look carefully; did you see the hard thing from there? If you see it, grab it tightly and pull it out.
- This step is for you if you don’t see the thing right now. Try to put your hand into the trap as much as you can. Can you feel the problem maker’s a hard object there? If you can reach there, grab it and pull it out.
That’s it. But always use gloves to do this type of work. This is the easiest way of all kinds of solutions. And most families use these tricks to remove any hard thing from the toilet.
Plunge the toilet
A plunger is an excellent solution for removing this thing from the toilet. But first, you need to know that you push the item towards the wastage drain. And you can’t get it from there if you use this process. But there are two types of plunger you can find on the market. One is for sink or bathtub-type clogging, and another is specially designed for unclogging the toilet. This plunge works with air and water pressure. It just throws the item toward the waste side. For this, you also need to follow some steps.
- As I told you before, there are two types of plungers available in the market to buy—the sink plunger and the toilet plunger. First, you need to recognize the toilet one and buy it. You can easily differentiate between this plunger. The sink one is a cup shape; on the other hand, the toilet one comes with extra heat with a cup size robber. Because the water-running pipe face of the sink and toilet are not the same shape, you also need a differently designed plunger.
- The toilet plunger shape is bell type. This shape is beneficial to seal the water into the pipe and preserve the seal. And this seal mainly works to force the object to wash away from its place.
- Set the plunger in the bottom of the bowl where the trap starts. Here you don’t need to remove water from the bowl. Just adjust the seal with the mouth of the toilet trap and allow water into it. Adjust the seal with this process. Now press the cup with the help of the plunger handles over the hole to get a perfect and tight seal in there.
- Now start forcing the plunger with the help of the plunger handle. Pump the plunger with a steady move into the trap area. But carefully, don’t push it very hard. Keep the plunger in the same spot to avoid losing the water seal.
- Now plunge into the toilet at about five to six-time. Then check the trap, whether the object is gone or not. If it goes away, then you are done with it. But if it’s still stuck there, then do the process again.
So this is also a straightforward way to remove an object from the trap. And you don’t need to go through your hand into the bowl. So you can follow this step quickly.
Use hook shape wire
This process is also beneficial if your hand is not properly reaching the trap spot. And I think you also get the idea that the object goes to the pipe more profoundly. Often, children accidentally drop a fork, spoon, or key into the toilet, and this hook-shaped wire is the best solution. You only need a solid and hard wire and make a loop at the end of this. Now gently insert it into the bowl pipe of the toilet. Then slowly stuck the object with the circle and pulled it out.
But don’t go harsh with the wire; otherwise, you’ll scratch the bowl of the tank. Many people also use a cloth hanger as a wire but sometimes force a scratch into the tank bowl with extra force.
Use a toilet auger or snake
For some people, these two things are new and unknown. But these two tools are mainly used to remove stubborn blockage from the toilet. Both either push the object to the drainage or pull it up. Let’s see how a snake work:
- First, wear gloves because it would be messy sometimes. Then hold the correct position of the toilet snake and put the front into the toilet bowl. Now slowly put this into the pipe. Don’t try to do it faster because it can easily scratch your beautiful porcelain toilet bowl.
- After doing this, now rotate the snakehead into the clockwise position, and you will feel resistance there. Then it just confirms the status of your object in the toilet.
- Now bend the object in a clockwise position, and if it is stuck, pull it out. Keep your move steady; otherwise, you lose the thing in the drainage.
This process is more accessible, but the toilet auger is also working like that. But it pushes down the object into the waste pipe, which means you just lost it forever. Most of the time, the plumber uses this auger instead of a snake. There is a chance to make a spot into the bowl when you use a toilet snake—but using an auger ensures safety.
Open up the toilet
If this process does not solve your problem, you need to open up your toilet to fix it. And I’ll suggest you call a plumber and fix it with their help. Opening a bathroom is very hard and challenging work. And you don’t have a clear idea about that. You can try it with the help of youtube, but if you make one mistake, you end up with a whole problematic toilet. If it becomes a huge problem, you must change your entire bathroom. Do you want it? That’s why I suggest you not do it by yourselves. Just call a plumber and fix it.
How to avoid throwing objects into the toilet?
If you are an adult, I think you need to know the primary use of the bathroom. A toilet is only for the collection of human waste. So don’t put any other thing into there. Sometimes, people use the water tank top as a shelf for shampoo or soap. And they accidentally flush that down. That’s why I always keep the seat cover down. 
And if you face a problem with children, educate them about what the toilet is for and how it works. And if they don’t understand, you use a lock system to babyproof the bathroom.
Final Discussion
In the end, an accident happens. But try to be safe and also use the toilet properly. Falling on an object is a normal case in every home. And you have a lot of options to overcome this problem. Try to use this, and I think you can help yourself quickly. It also saves you time and money. But if you can’t do it, call a professional to help you out. Because opening up the whole toilet is very tricky, you don’t have clear knowledge about this. A plumber saves you time, and if you break anything, you need to change the whole of the toilet. It costs you extra money. So try to make the right decision in the correct phase.
We are really lucky to have a hard-working, multi-skilled plumber on our team. Collin D. Gallegos, a professional plumber who has worked with us since 2012, is an expert in vent, septic, and drainage systems. He is a Certified Master Plumber and has worked on various commercial plumbing projects. He usually helps our readers resolve plumbing and pipe-related issues with a proper DIY troubleshooting and repair guide.