Flushing toilet or draining tub causes gurgling and water rise in the other

Hello all,

I've had this issue happen about three times over a month, and I'm not sure where to begin.

The first thing that happened, was flushing a toilet and the tub next to it started making a gurgling/bubbling noise. I flushed it again and it gurgled again, then a tiny amount of water came up the tub drain along with a few bugs.

I ran the tub water for a minute, then I heard bubbles in the toilet and noticed the level had risen in the bowl.

The problem went away and the toilet was flushed for many days without a problem, both with solid waste and without.

This issue just recently happened again.

Is there any way to check if it is a vent issue versus drain?

99.99% of the time, it is a blocked or partially blocked drain.

Thank you

I found some other posts with similar problems and that's what I was thinking.

Can you unplug a drain through the tub? or is it easier to try through the toilet? I'm assuming the toilet is at the end of the line, so the plug would be further down on the tub side

The best bet is to remove the toilet and snake the line through the flange, with a full size cutter head.

phishfood is right if the toilets are backing up the mainline is clogged you never want to snake from a smaller drain to a larger drain. if you do and get ahold of something you might not be able to get your cable back through the smaller drain

Bob,

We had this same issue at my moms house recently. We had used an auger on the house roof vent stack, vent was 4 inches in diameter. It is easier to auger this drain than remove the toilet or use other small drain. What we found was the drain was clogged due to tree roots. We used a metal drill cutter bit on the end of the auger to cut the tree roots.

It might be easier to find a local sewer/drain professional to do this augering for you. They can auger to clear the debris and also use a camera to check the sewer drain to ensure it is clear. The cost do this can range from $200-$300.

Jack Darden