This has happened to me before, and I am puzzled by the cause. Just the other day (and this has happened before) I noticed a noise coming from the toilet and noticed what looked like soap bubbles overflowing from the toilet! The toilet had not been flushed, soapy bubbles just came out of the toilet and spilled out all over the floor. Does this indicate any type of problem? This has happened before, so I am concerned as to the cause and/or what this may indicate for my plumbing. This is in an old townhouse/brownstone building in NYC. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

Chelsea242, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
I would have to guess that you have a partial blockage in your drainline(s). Washing machines push out a lot of water at a time. The clog is currently allowing fixtures with less flow to operate normally but cannot handle the washer discharge. You will probably need to have the drainlines snaked. You can rent these machines if you feel confident doing the work yourself. Hopefully you have a clean-out near this drainline. Good luck.

 

Sounds like he's right. Even if they don't appear to be that close. Our upstairs neighbors dishwater emptied into our kitchen sink every time they emptied theirs... combination of gravity and a partial blockage somewhere else in the building. The plumber (at the landlords expense of course) said it was at least 25 feet down and had to get a longer snake to clear the blockage.

Of course, if you're not wanting to fix the problem at its source, you could try keeping a few gallons of "no foam" solutions around. I saw something like this at the grocery store the other day where they rent carpet cleaners. We use these kinds of solutions in medical labs because our instruments do lots of washes but use such low volumes that the "suds" can just sit in the waste lines causing the biohazardous waste to just sit stagnant for a while and ruin the plumbing. It sort of keeps everything flowing right. Of course I'm not suggesting it for you, nor would I know if it would be better to keep a cupfull in your toilet water or to throw it in when you do a load of laundry.

Peace