aaaahis edition I want to cover another fun bathroom problem: clogged toilets. I can think of a number of things that might do this (the number would be "two", because you never have problems with number "one"). But seriously, whatever causes the stoppage there is nothing quite so uncomfortable as seeing the water rise instead of fall after you flush. But what should you do?

First - Stop the water entering the bowl. The quickest way to do this would be to remove the lid of your tank (see diagram), and push the rubber flapper or diaphragm down so that it seals the drain.

Tip: I recommend opening the tank before the unfortunate event to familiarize yourself with the workings of the toilet and even lifting the flapper to open it and pushing it down to close it.

Second - Turn off the water at the source. You should be able to find a water intake underneath your tank. Follow the tubing to a valve that comes out of the wall. This will have a handle that will either turn counter clockwise 90 degrees or will take several turns clockwise to close. If the tank is filling with water (if you act quickly it will still be filling) you will know the water is off because you'll hear the water slow and then stop. If the tank is full just turn it until the handle stops snuggly.

With the water flow stopped - and hopefully the toilet has not overflowed the bowl - you can now address removing the blockage with plunging. You could skip 1 and 2 and go straight to plunging but you increase the likelihood that you will have an overflow.

Tip: You may want to lubricate your water valve now. Spray a little WD 40 at the shaft of the handle and turn it a few times clockwise and counter clockwise to be sure it's running smoothly. You don't want to try to turn it in an emergency and then find that it's stuck!

Third - Plunging. This is the part everyone is most familiar with but I suspect does not do correctly. The most important part of the plunging is getting a solid seal between the plunger and the hole in the toilet. Once you have a seal, instead of making long up-and-down hard strokes with the plunger, use short sharp pulses, focusing on maintaining the seal. In fact you don't need to pull the plunger to its full expansion. Make 5 to 10 pulses, lift the plunger and watch to see if the blockage is sliding away or the water is draining. If the toilet is unplugged the water should drain very quickly. If it doesn't drain replace the plunger, make a tight seal and give it another 5 to 10 pulses. Check and repeat until the water drains.

If the clog is really persistent you could get a drain snake (see your local hardware store) or call a plumber.

I hope this helps and may your flushing be a draining experience!

Warning: Low-flow and non-round toilet holes - My mom had an awful low-flow toilet that I spent a lot of time plunging. The first problem was because it was low-flow there was not enough water volume to move large "acts of congress" (cite Dave Barry) through the system. The second problem was that the toilet hole was not round but sort of tear-shaped. This meant that I could never get a seal on the hole, and to add insult to injury the water I was trying to push down would spray up through the little point of the tear. My only recommendation for this is … get a different toilet … but short of that be sure you have one of the bell-shaped (usually black) plungers and put the seat down to control some of the spray back.

Plungers

There are a variety of plungers on the market. There is the standard, the bell-shaped and there are now some made with plastic that have an accordion-shaped head. I recommend the bell and accordion over the standard but be sure you clean these in bleach or other strong cleaning agent, and make sure "stuff" doesn't get stuck inside the bell or the accordion creases.

Standard plunger (left) and bell-shaped plunger.

Accordian plunger

Drain snake