Pop the cork

I went to a lovely house today in Wimbledon Village. Their toilet was blocked and needed clearing.

I set to work with the plunger, but every time I plunged I could hear air and water bubbling up the basin plug hole. The basin waste pipe was obviously connected to the same waste pipe as the toilet and the blockage was further down the line than the joint.

At this stage I considered the fact that I would have to rod the toilet waste to clear the blockage. But before I went down the roding route I thought I would try blocking the basin waste pipe by just putting the plug in the basin and filling it up with water. I plunged again, this time I heard air escaping from the basin overflow pipe.

If the plunger was going to work I would need to plug the basin overflow. I needed a cork, which I did not have. Instead I rolled up a few rubber gloves and stuffed them into the basin overflow.

I plunged the toilet again, after the second plunge the rubber gloves flew across the room, having been launched out of the overflow by the pressure build up.

I chuckled to myself as the toilet waste flushed away. My cork had popped but so had the blockage.