There are a lot of things that can clog a main drain pipeline in your sewer system. Have things accidentally flushed or purposely flushed is often the main culprit of that. When I talked to some of my friends at a sewer and drain cleaning in New Jersey, they told me that one of the main causes of sewer drains clogging was the over flushing of toilet paper. I was shocked when I heard that, I assumed you could just flush that with no issue. Turns out, you shouldn’t.

Toilet paper is a paper product that most homes use. Some homes do have a “no flushing” rule on the toilet paper, but some do not. A home that flushes the toilet paper is running the risk of having it clog the drains by snagging onto roots or anything that leads to the main sewer line. This prevents water from running to the main line smoothly, allowing the whole sewer system to work as they should. When the clog happens, the buildup has to be removed. That can be done a number of ways.

Commercial buildup cleaner sometimes works, if the clog is small enough and the cleaner is able to eat through the paper reasonably. Most of the time, many buildup cleaners would rather have you safely remove the buildup with a auger or a drain snake to ensure that you get every last bit of the clog. Since it is usually a buildup of toilet paper, the clog can sometimes break off and travel in different areas. Flushing the system out professionally, is often the last step to ensure that you have the clog fully removed.

This is why most plumbers or people who regularly work with sewer systems really don’t want anyone to flush any sort of paper product down. This can cause a small issue that leads to a massive one later on.