I have had a lot of really odd things happen in my bathroom this weekend and I want to make sure it is nothing too serious. Ok so when I was taking a shower I heard the toilet bubble up. A few minutes later I noticed that my shower drain was going slower than normal. So when I was done with my shower I took a plunger to the shower and it pulled back some hair, etc. I also noticed that when I flushed the toilet it did not want to drain quickly. I immediately turned the toilet off and then I also noticed that some of the water had backed up into shower. With the hair I pulled out of the shower I figured I had a hair clog. I put some Drano down the shower to clear the hair and I don't have hair coming up when I plunge the shower now. However I still have some really odd stuff happening in the bathroom. When the shower gets used for more than a few minutes, the toilet bubbles up and the shower drain slows down again. The shower will eventually drain (very slowly) and when the shower empties, the water in the toilet appears to drop until I can hear air coming in from the bottom.

When I use the sink the toilet bubbles up and when I flush the toilet I hear what I assume is some bubbles coming up from the sink. With a little research I have done on this it looks like it could be the drain pipe on my roof leaking or that my drain field is flooded (I live in Michigan and we have had a ton of rain over the last 3 weeks or so). I guess I am wondering if both of these ideas are plausible and/or likely and if something like this warrants a calls to a plumber to have them investigate? plumbing bathroom drain drain-waste-vent There is a clog downstream from both of these drains. If they are both at the lowest level of the house and you have a septic system, then it's conceivable that the problem is there, but you'd also see water backing up into that bathroom when you run any other showers/toilets in the house. Most likely, the clog is in the joint in the drain lines where the shower and toilet join on their way out of the bathroom. Get a snake to fish down the drain (probably best to do this in the shower to avoid damaging the toilet bowl) and expect to go down quite a few feet before you reach the problem.

Edit: Revisiting this question, I'd agree that there's also a likely vent blockage from the bubbling descriptions. Homes For Sale Mt Pocono PaBut the fact that toilet water backs up into the shower points to a drain blockage, too, and that will be easier to fix.Rv For Sale Pasadena Tx Sounds like you have a clog in the drain system downstream of your bathroom, or an obstruction in your drain vents, or both. Snow Blower Tires Off RimA drain clog would obviously slow down drainage. The bubbling and interaction between your toilet and shower drains suggests that they may not be getting proper ventilation, and therefore sucking air from one fixture to the other. Do other fixtures drain well? If so, then it is probably a clog in the drain or vents connected to this bathroom only.

You can try some things to narrow down the clog's location, but getting a plumber's help sounds like a good idea. I certainly wouldn't want to risk toilet drain water backing up into the shower! We have been experiencing this exact issue on and off for the last month and a half. We have had a plumber out twice to resolve it. Both times he ran a snake To clear the line and found no blockage through the entire 100ft line. After doing some research I have noticed that the gurgling and backing up is very commonly linked to venting issues. So rather than snaking the drain, I'd recommend checking for a blockage in the vent. For me the septic tank in my house was full and needed to be emptied.Browse other questions tagged plumbing bathroom drain drain-waste-vent or ask your own question.A toilet and sink in the same bathroom often share a common vent. Any time you see bubbles coming from a toilet that isn't in use, it means air is trapped in the waste pipe. If the bubbling happens when you use a sink, the sink vent may be blocked or improperly installed.

A sluggish toilet is another sign of venting problems. Venting Requirements Plumbing code requires each plumbing fixture to have its own vent, which is an unobstructed air passage that usually ties in with the main vent that exits through the roof. The code requires a minimum diameter for each vent pipe as well as minimum installation distance from the fixture trap. A vent that doesn't fulfill these requirements fails to allow sufficient air movement for drainage, and negative pressure can push or pull air through the P-traps of fixtures near the improperly vented one. Stopping the Bubbling When draining a sink affects the toilet, it means their waste pipes probably are connected, and they likely share a common vent. The problem may be as easy to fix as removing debris from the vent opening on the roof, or it may involve re-plumbing the sink vent to bring it up to code. You may be able to install an air admittance valve near the sink P-trap to compensate for inadequate venting, if local plumbing regulations allow it.

: Air Admittance Valves Photo Credits Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images Suggest a Correction One of the two toilets in my rental house is bubbling when the shower or sink in that master bath area are on. In the past, about 6 months ago, I have had plumbers and rotoruter out and they could find no blockage in the line. Before I spend more money on an out of state house, could someone please tell me if they have suggestions? It sounds like the toilet, shower and sink share a vent. This is pretty normal; no plumber in his right mind would run separate vented stacks for each drain in the house. The drains are instead tied into one vent stack, and then stacks are combined as they flow into the main sanitary drain. However, the shower or sink may be upstream of the toilet, and are pushing air in front of water which might be finding relief by bubbling up the toilet's drain. The plumbing can still pass code, but the intent of the applicable plumbing code is to prevent a drain being too far from its vent, which causes air to get trapped "downstream" of water in the line, resulting in problems like this (and slow drains).

The design of the toilet may have something to do with it. Toilets, like other drains, have U-bends; for a toilet this has the dual purpose of keeping water in the bowl, and also keeping sewer gases from pushing out into the room (similar to J-traps on sink'shower drains). However, "low-flow" toilets which use 1.6GPF or less are often designed with a shallower U-bend, so that it doesn't take as much water flow to induce the siphon that makes the contents of the bowl go away. Depending on other aspects of the design, like the relative order of the sink, toilet and shower in the drain line, water pushing past the tee to the toilet may be enough to force some air through the toilet's U-bend. You may also have some issues with tee junctions in the plumbing. Specifically, I'm thinking of a tee joint being installed backwards. Drain tees are not true T-shapes; the perpendicular end instead curves into the straight section. The curve should direct water from the tee joint "downstream" towards the main stack, but if installed backwards it will force drain water (and air) towards "upstream" drains before gravity then pulls it back down the main line.

This causes a backwash that slows drains, and yes it can force air in the drain lines past traps like the toilet U-bend. If the bathroom was ever renovated and the plumbing changed, and the work was not inspected (or the inspector missed the problem), this is plausible. My toilet which is on a septic tank and has started doing this during heavy rains. I believe @Mike is right, the septic system is backing up...don't flush the toilet if it is bubbling because it will overflow. I sometimes have the same problem and the sewer backs up, but in my case the shower was placed where the bathroom sink was. The shower is after the toilet and closer to exterior wall. Whenever that happens I use the snake from outside cleanup and it take care of the problem. I am thinking to add a separate vent for the shower. If you have a septic tank make sure your pump isn't shot. I had the same problem and my pump still worked but the socket that the pump was plugged into blew so in result, I had a non working pump.