No one wants it to happen, but clogged toilets are an unfortunate part of life. Only to make matters worse, sometimes they will even start to overflow. If you want to stop the madness before there is more than water spilling onto your bathroom floor, the local plumbers from Joe Klosterman Plumbing in Cincinnati, OH, recommend trying the following tactics.

Turn Off the Water

If you’ve had an overflowing toilet in the past, chances are you panicked and didn’t think about turning the water off. However, doing this is the surest way to stop the water from flowing. If the toilet is hiding the valve that directly shuts off water leading into it, try to get to your main shutoff valve instead. This will cut off water to your entire house. Once overflowing water is no longer impeding your ability to get to the toilet water valve, you can shut this area off instead and reconnect the rest of your home.

To prepare for this type of emergency, it’s important to open and close the toilet water valve every once in a while and make sure it is adequately lubricated. The last thing you want is for your toilet to be spilling over and not being able to turn this knob.

Check Inside the Tank

When you can’t turn the water off, the next best thing you can do is remove the lid to the toilet tank and try to close the flapper — a rubber disc that covers the hole at the bottom of the tank. You should be able to simply stick your hand in and close it (don’t worry, this water is clean). However, if you can’t get it to close, try lifting the float ball back towards the top of the tank. This should make the water stop running.

Clear the Clog

After the water has finally quit running, you will need to remove the clog that caused this mess in the first place. A toilet plunger with a flange on the end is the best tool to use for this process.

If your toilet is clogging regularly, you might have a blockage in your line that is causing the problem. To remove it, contact the plumbers at Joe Klosterman Plumbing. They provide residential plumbing repair services to the whole Tri-State area. Call them today at (513) 941-6766 or visit their website to learn more about how they can solve your plumbing problems. You can also find the local plumbers on Facebook.