Water pooling around the base of your toilet is a serious issue. If the toilet is overflowing onto your bathroom floor, stop reading and go twist the shut-off valve behind the toilet clockwise. Once the valve is closed, we can talk about what happens next.
Living out here in Wittmann, AZ, we deal with plenty of hard water and older plumbing lines that can catch homeowners off guard. When a toilet backs up, that water is not just clean water from the tank. It carries bacteria, and if it sits on your floorboards or seeps into the baseboards, you are looking at warped material and mold growth faster than you would think under the desert heat.
Before You Start Cleaning
Safety comes first before you grab a mop. Put on some rubber gloves and eye protection because you do not want that water splashing on you. If the water made its way near the vanity or the hallway, kill the power to that bathroom at your breaker box if there is any chance it reached an outlet or floor heater. Grab some old towels or a wet-dry shop vacuum if you have one.
What You Can DIY
If the spill is contained to the tile or laminate right around the toilet and it is less than a few gallons, you can handle this yourself. Mop up the standing liquid right away. Mix up some hot water and household disinfectant, and scrub down every hard surface the water touched. Do not just wipe it down once; go over it twice. Open up the bathroom window to get some cross-ventilation going, even if it is hot outside, to help dry out the room.
- Soak up all visible water with old towels
- Disinfect hard floors thoroughly
- Run a fan or portable dehumidifier
When to Call a Pro
Not every overflow is a simple mop-and-bucket job. If the water soaked through your baseboards, ran under the drywall, or dripped down through the ceiling into the room below, you have got a bigger problem. Sewage backups or water that sat for more than a few hours also require professional grade extraction and sanitization. That is when you call Guardian Restoration Company to break out the heavy-duty air movers and moisture meters. Guardian Restoration Company will make sure nothing is hiding inside your walls.
Keep an eye on the area for the next couple of days. If you smell anything musty or notice the baseboards swelling up, do not wait for it to dry out on its own. Addressing moisture early saves you from tearing out half your bathroom later down the road.