Filthy Toilet, Tub, and Bathroom Floor – Question 427

Moved into an apartment in February.  Bathroom sink was draining slowly so I asked the maintenance man to fix it.  He poured Drano down the drain. Several times I would fill the tub, sink, or kitchen sink and get brown water, I asked the maintenance man about it and he blamed it on the town.  I asked other neighbours in my building about it and none of them had encountered brown water. Spring came and I would leave my windows open in the evening, I repeatedly would smell sewer gas.  3 weeks ago, I noticed what looked like rust in the caulking around the base of the toilet.  My first thought was wax seal.  I asked the maintenance man to fix it.  First he asked me was it the gasket between the tank and the bowl.  I said no, the wax seal.  He looked at the caulking, left, came back with another tube of caulking and “fixed it.”  2 weeks later, on a Sunday, I flushed the toilet 4 – 5 times and kept hearing gurgling in my bathtub drain.  Thought maybe I was hearing things.  Later  in the day, I filled the tub with about 4 inches of water just to soak my feet.  At the end of the day, I went to soak my feet one last time before draining the tub, used the toiled, flushed and black/brown sludge backed-up into the bathtub, and through the toilet bolt holes. (Is it common practice to caulk around the base of a toilet because this is the first time I’ve seen that.)

Was the back-up caused by the wax seal? or a blockage? I was told that I shouldn’t be so disgusted with the mess since it was my own sewage that gushed up my bathtub drain and under the toilet.  I was disgusted no matter who’s sewage it was.  What cleaning product is used to sterilize the tub, toilet, floor, etc.?

Answer:

You indeed have reason to feel disgusted.  There is a clear and evident plumbing toilet problem.  There may be both a clogged toilet pipe and the wax seal is also compromised.  You need to have the apartment manager come tour you unit to see for themselves the extent of the problem.  The maintenance person appears to be applying some quick fix solutions, but is probably just scratching the surface and obviously the problem has not been rectified.  You need to request the apartment management to bring in a qualified plumber to correct this serious problem.  Take pictures of the problem areas as that always helps reinforce the point when you go to inform the apartment management of the problem. To sanitize the areas, you should purchase some rubber gloves and you will find a host of cleaning products intended for the use of sanitized clean up for the toilet, bathtub, and bathroom floor.