TIL putting a brick in my toilet tank fixed the weak flush problem

For months my toilet in the back bathroom would barely flush half the time. Had to plunge it almost every other day. I was about to drop $150 on a new toilet from Home Depot on Coors. Then my neighbor Mike who does handyman work told me to just drop a brick in the tank. I was skeptical but I dug an old brick out of the backyard and gave it a shot. Now it flushes fine and I haven't plunged once in 3 weeks. Has anyone else tried this or is there a reason not to do it long term?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_singh71mo ago

Did you check if the brick you used is firebrick or just a regular old red brick? I ask because I had a buddy who did this same thing with a red brick from his yard and after about a month that thing started to crumble and turn into brick dust inside his tank. He ended up having to take the whole toilet apart to get it out of the valve. I used a piece of paver stone from Lowes and it's been in there for two years now no problems.

ray1891mo ago

Hey that's a really good point! I actually used a plain old red brick from my backyard at first too and it started flaking after like two months. Total nightmare. I wound up going with a chunk of leftover granite countertop from a kitchen remodel my neighbor had. That thing is solid as a rock, no joke it's been in my toilet for maybe four years now and it looks exactly the same as the day I put it in. The key is definitely getting something that won't break down in water, so paver stone or a piece of natural stone is the way to go.