What NOT to Flush: Avoiding Plumbing Nightmares (and Charges!) at Your Rental Property
Ah, the toilet—your porcelain throne, your trusty flushable friend. But not everything you drop into it magically disappears without consequence. In fact, flushing the wrong items can lead to clogged pipes, flooding, angry landlords, and—you guessed it—charges on your tenant account.
If you don’t want to fund your plumber’s next vacation or be known as “the tenant who destroyed the building’s plumbing,” here’s a funny (but serious) guide to things you should never flush and the chaos they can cause.
🚫 Flush and Regret: The Usual Suspects
- “Flushable” Wipes
Spoiler alert: Just because the package says “flushable” doesn’t mean they’re actually safe for your pipes. These sneaky little culprits are notorious for clogging drains.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $200+ to snake the pipes. - Paper Towels
We get it—sometimes the toilet paper runs out. But paper towels? They’re the Hulk of plumbing blockages.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $150+ for plumber intervention. - Cotton Swabs & Q-Tips
While they’re tiny, they’re mighty destructive when it comes to pipes. Think of them as pipe-destroying ninjas.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $100+ to unclog the “Q-tip graveyard.” - Dental Floss
Your commitment to oral hygiene is admirable, but floss + plumbing = a spiderweb of chaos in your pipes.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $175+ for clearing the pipes. - Cooking Grease
Grease belongs in a jar, not your toilet. It cools, hardens, and creates a disgusting plumbing nightmare.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $300+ to unclog your DIY fatberg. - Food Scraps
A toilet is not a garbage disposal. Sending last night’s spaghetti down the drain will clog it faster than you can say “tenant charge.”
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $150+ to clean the “toilet buffet.”
🚫 Wildcards You (Surprisingly) Shouldn’t Flush
- Cat Litter
Yes, it’s designed to absorb stuff, but toilets aren’t meant to handle clumps of clay or sand. Flushing it can result in an instant disaster.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $200+ to clear the sandy mess. - Hair
Cleaning out your hairbrush and thinking the toilet is the easiest disposal method? Guess what: your pipes disagree.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $175+ for de-hairing the drains. - Small Toys
This one goes out to tenants with kids. Flushing that tiny action figure may seem cute until it becomes the hero of your plumbing disaster.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $250+ to rescue Spider-Man from the pipes. - Feminine Hygiene Products
We know the instructions on the box are confusing, but trust us—these items belong in the trash, not the toilet.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: $200+ for the plumber to remove “the mystery clog.” - Money
Yes, some people flush cash in desperation, but trust us—no amount of money is worth finding out what happens to your pipes afterward.
💸 Tenant Charge Potential: Priceless embarrassment.
💡 Why You Should Care
Clogged pipes don’t just inconvenience you—they affect your neighbors, your landlord, and maybe even the whole building. Worse, if the plumber finds out you’ve been the culprit (spoiler: they will), those repair costs might just find their way onto your tenant ledger.
🧻 What CAN You Flush?
To keep things simple:
- Toilet Paper (not the industrial kind, just regular stuff)
- …That’s It.
If it’s not toilet paper or, um, “human business,” it belongs in the trash. End of story.
🚽 The Bottom Line
Your toilet is an essential part of your rental home. Treat it with the respect it deserves, and it won’t betray you with blockages, overflows, or costly plumber visits.
So, the next time you’re tempted to flush something questionable, ask yourself: “Is this worth $200?” Because trust us, a hefty tenant charge is scarier than any clogged pipe monster lurking below.
Happy flushing! Or, better yet, careful flushing. 😉
