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The scene: We live in a two story house with two bathrooms, one on top of the other. This afternoon my son had some friends over for a few hours, most of that time upstairs while the adults talked downstairs. After they left we (the family) had dinner, watched TV, etc. for several hours, all downstairs. When it was time to put the kids to bed, I went to the upstairs bathroom and found evidence of a toilet overflow of the worst kind - the toilet and a 6-12" radius of floor were soiled but there was no visible water. It actually took me a minute to figure out what had happened because the soiled spots were basically dry. The overflow must have happened 4-5 hours before we noticed. I'm sure there was water but I don't know where it went.
Anyway I plunged and cleaned and Lysol'ed the heck out of everything, but should I have someone take a look at the bathroom and if so, who?
The ceiling of the downstairs bathroom seems to have a few cracks in a corner I don't remember noticing before, and the crappy particleboard vanity in the upstairs bath is warped at the base - but maybe I never noticed that before, either. Our floors in the upstairs bath are cheapo vinyl adhesive tiles which seem to be laid on top of the original 1950s ceramic tile.
While I would almost love to have an excuse to overhaul a dated bathroom, I don't want to needlessly go into what I'm sure would be a huge expense. However I'm worried about water damage and mold or other bugbears, particularly considering the source of the overflowing water. Is there a way to determine damage without ripping out walls and floors, and/or is there a way to mitigate damage?
Damage due to an overflow like that, being sudden and accidental, would be covered under your homeowners insurance. I'm in insurance. I will let someone who knows more about houses tell you whether or not you should have it checked by a contractor.
If the toilet is working I wouldn't worry about it. However, if it happens again with another "deposit" then I'd probably have a plumber come and snake the line and follow with a camera to be sure everything is OK.
My guess would be that the kid(s) got a little over zealous with the toilet paper- that's all.
That's what it sounds like to me too, I don't think you have anything to worry about if there is no repetition of the overflow.
An overflow like that isn't actually much water, just what was in the toilet tank that wouldn't fit in the bowl, so it's unlikely to cause much damage to the ceiling below. Water damage to that ceiling will usually look like a large soft spot, sometimes the water will run down the wall underneath the latex paint.
Warped vanity floors are usually caused by the sink trap leaking at some point, or spilled water from the trap when a person takes it apart, it's very common to see with particle board vanities.
We had an overflowing toilet a couple of weeks ago. Difference was it had been overflowing for a few hours straight. THAT caused some water damage. If it already dried up I wouldn't worry too much about it. Our overflowing toilet caused the ceiling downstairs to partially collapse and sent water down to the basement. Fortunately just about everything is covered under insurance. Clean up and drying, replacing ceiling, walls, hardwood floors, cabinets, carpet. Even a moving company to pack up our stuff.
I just moved into a house, built in 1999. My toilet used to not flush completely some times and it seemed like it would over flow onto the floor. Turns out when I flushed, the slack in the flapper chain was too much and the flapper would not stay open long enough for a complete flush. Don't know if this is your problem but it is something to look at.
This is probably not the case for your particular incident, but will mention it because there is a slight chance this could be a cause. Flushing any kind of "wipe"...even if the package states the wipes are "flushable"....will eventually plug your plumbing. Our newspaper had an article that one of the biggest problems in our large city's waste water system is caused by so-called "flushable" wipes (and FYI, along with people pouring grease down the drain instead of disposing of it in the garbage can). Basically, the article says never, ever flush wipes of any kind. All wipes should be placed in the garbage not in the toilet.
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