Question: I live in an eight-storey apartment building constructed in 1967 and reside on the sixth floor. Last fall I noticed the water in my toilet bowl would drain to just above the siphon jet hole whenever the tenants on the seventh or eighth floors flushed their toilets. Also, a loud gurgling noise would sometimes come from my bathtub. Thinking a clog was causing the draining and noise all the drains in my apartment were cleaned with liquid drain cleaner. This did not correct the problem. I contacted our building maintenance manager and a new low-flow toilet was installed. Unfortunately, this did not correct the problem and a plumber was called in to inspect the line from the roof down to my apartment. Using a camera system to see inside the line detected no clogs or other issues.
By the time all of the above occurred we were into winter and it was decided to wait until spring to investigate further. Over the winter the bowl water would still go down several inches but never lower than the siphon jet hole. Sewer gas odours are not a problem. As it stands now, the toilet must be flushed before use to ensure there is enough water in the bowl to properly eliminate waste. If the upstairs neighbours flush their toilet while mine is being used, you must flush, finish your business and then flush again. This is very annoying and not making good use of a low flow toilet. No other tenants above or below me are having similar problems. Any thoughts? Thanks, Carole Holke
Answer: The problem you are experiencing would fall under the category of minor issues. Searching for a solution may still be a worthwhile endeavour, but often futile. Unfortunately with high-rise apartment blocks, especially older ones, the limitations on locating the source of the concern may be large. This may have been occurring for many years prior to your occupancy and sometimes living with this nuisance issue may be unavoidable.
The key to determining why a plumbing fixture is draining in a strange manner, or making odd noises, is to look at the configuration of the plumbing drains. Often, drains are not properly sloped, angled, or vented in a manner that allow problem-free drainage of water and waste from a portion of a building. The taller the building, the more a single drain pipe or fixture may be affected by numerous other interconnected drains in other individual suites. There are specific requirements in the Building Codes that address what can and cannot be done as far as these variables are concerned. If not done correctly, even in one single suite, it may affect other units above or below as far as proper drainage is concerned.
The initial response to such a problem is too look for blocked drains. Especially in multi-family dwellings such as yours, dropping or flushing foreign objects into drains may be a common occurrence. Small children may flush plastic balls, toys, dolls, or other impassible items into the commode, creating a blockage. Also, excessive hair, soap and other debris can regularly clog drains and traps of sinks and bathtubs. While none of these should seriously affect the neighbours if the building is plumbed properly, they may cause a problem if they travel farther down the main drains. Partial blockage of the main stack may cause the venting for any suite to be partially compromised. The description of your problem sounds like your toilet is drawing air from an improper other fixture, which is likely a venting problem. This should have been visible during the recent camera scope if it was in the main stack.
If this occurred only during winter months, the suspect would be frozen pipes and vents. This is a common thing to experience in really cold weather, but your noisy toilet woes appear to be year-round, so we should be able to rule that out. What you should have the superintendent investigate is any recent renovations or upgrade around the time this began to happen. There is a chance that in one suite, or in a common area like the laundry, renovations have been done that included plumbing drain replacements. If these were not properly done by a licensed plumber, another fixture somewhere in the building may be drawing air from the fixtures in your suite rather than the proper vent system. The difficult task is locating the source of the defect. Since you notice the water loss during the flush of toilets in suites above you, those are the ones that should be checked first. However, a problem due to improper drain slope or angles may be hidden deep inside floors or walls and may not be easily found or repaired. I doubt the building owners would be willing to start tearing these apart to please one tenant.
Finding defects in drain and vent plumbing can be difficult enough in single-family dwellings, but may be exponentially tougher in high rise apartments such as yours. While it may be little consolation for your wonky toilet issues, if the problem is not enough to drain the trap inside your toilet it may be nothing more than a watery nuisance that is too difficult to easily remedy.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the past president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors -- Manitoba (cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at 204-291-5358 or check out his website at trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
