How many rolls of toilet paper do you have RIGHT NOW??? ;-)

True story:

Six months ago our toilet suddenly backed up. Vigorous plunging was no help and we don't have easy access to the sewer, so I called in an expert.

He climbed up to the roof, shoved his jet cleaner pipe down the top of the downpipe as far as it would go, and tried to blast the blockage out. That didn't work, but the whole downpipe full of poo exploded out of the toilet into the bathroom: 3cm deep and flooding through to the kitchen underneath! The smell was just outrageous; I had to keep stopping cleaning so as not to add to it with vomit.

He had to cut into the bottom of the cast iron downpipe and managed to clear the blockage that way, the rest of the contents spraying out over the garden. It was mostly caused by those allegedly flushable, wet bum wipes that my wife likes to use. The garden was full of poo and non-disintegrated wipes for weeks! The weeds loved it. The expert said he sees those wipes causing blockages frequently.

So, don't flush anything except TP!

It is the custom here for the ticos to bag up the dirty paper and throw out with the regular trash. I was aware of the custom, which is apparently common with all Latinos, when I read the book “Aging with Costa Rican Women” but failed to follow the practice which might explain why the toilet in the house in which a rented a room kept stopping up. This was before reading the book. One day my maid asked where was I putting my paper and I pointed to the toilet which excited her and I was told not to do that, I didn’t stop. However when the dirty papers begin to pile up in the corner from visitors and workers I remembered the book and put a lined waste basket there which worked. Finally the native ways began working on me and I began bagging like everyone else. When the day came that I remodelled the bathroom I specified an US style throne so that I could flush. That alone cost $500 and the extra comfort from the larger seat almost justified the price in itself. That was one of the first things my army buddy commented on during a visit. I don’t know the final tab as it was run in with other things. The none flushing habit might explain the no run on toilet paper. I’ve always used paper towels on a daily bases but more so in recent days. These I throw in with the recyclable trash and gets carried away every other week. There was a time when I’d carry the recyclable stuff down the mountain at the end of the week and it was picked up there. Later I took the easy way out and lumped everything together and it was carried off twice a week. Now they will pick it up every other week.

Having been raised, at least part of my life, with septic tanks just got into the habit of not flushing tp. A good septic system will break down tp. But the one my cousins had, they helped raise my sister and I, was one of the old fashion kind with only one chamber an no electronics. So they felt it was better to not put tp in it. Also having been in construction and doing apartment maintenance I know and have heard many horror stories about backed up toilet plumbing. Also worked for a restoration company(house fires, water damage, etc) black water was the nastiest. Black water being toilet, grey water being all other waste water from house. Rick that is one bad story.

Been there.. a big pavlovnia tree across the street grew its roots in the seams of the old earthenware pipes leading from our house to the sewer channel under the green area across the street; performed like filter grit! and then a real heavy rain cam, some downbursts, the grit went shut to all sorts of idiotic garbage... and the whole SH*T gazpacho came up through a manhole in our cellar! Pees, and poosand many MANY interesting stuff, i can tell you, which wasnt supposed to be there! Female hygiene stuff, anyone? Who does flush such stuff? And handkerchiefs and, and... and the smell. Days. Weeks. Such a RICH aroma! 

Only human waste and tp goes into tank.  No kids, I live alone except during the day when my amiga comes by daily.  I like the 3 ply stuff but this is the first I've found for sometime, I'll watch it in the future.  

Pgandy, I hope at 80 you don’t have any kids there!😏 Hope you do ok man. Good luck.

Yeeeaaah! Sweet victory, semprini! Yeehaawww! 

Luckily, I just stocked up on beer, have shelves and a fridge full of food, and I have a bidet on my toilet. It's kinda weird using it...but if it works....  Wasn't my idea to have it installed, but now I'm kinda glad SHE did.