The other day, after putting a fresh roll of toilet paper on the plastic holder, I pulled on the toilet paper roll at the precise time the toilet was flushing and the plastic holder flew up in the air and made a perfect dive right down into the toilet at precisely the moment it was flushing at full strength. I couldnt believe my eyes. The plastic holder was gone in a flash and I was amazed that this six inch device would be so easily scooped up, but it was. I tried everything to get it out, wire, snake, but it was too far gone.

I figured it was at the first turn where the inner canal bends so I took the tank off thinking I could reach down in there and force or pry it out. No such luck.

When you take the tank off you cant reach into the canal where the water actually flows, so dont waste your time doing that.

It was at this point I decided I had to remove the toilet.

Interestingly enough the toilet will continue to flush when something is stuck in it, but at a minor rate; that is it will take longer, swirl in the basin longer, and it wont accept all of the sewage, and will have to be plunged frequently.

Besides things getting stuck in toilets there is another reason you might have to remove one. At the base where its attached to the floor they sometimes begin to leak. A puddle will form and soon youll be getting a call from the tenant.

1. To remove a toilet first shut off the water at the faucet underneath the toilet.

2. Flush and drain the tank completely. Sponge out any excess water from the basin and the tank because youre going to be lifting all of this up so you want it to be as light as possible (as well as not spilling any water on the floor). Its a good idea to lay down a little newspaper somewhere where youre going to set the toilet because you wont get all the water out of the inner workings.

3. Disconnect the hose that provides the water supply to your tank. This can be done by unscrewing the plastic nut that attaches underneath the tank.

4. Look down at the base of the toilet and youll see two little plastic caps. Pop those off and underneath them youll see a nut and washers. Loosen both nuts on either side of the toilet and set them aside. Take off the washers.

5. Now comes the first tricky part. Carefully, with the utmost of delicacy, lift up the toilet. The reason I say delicately and carefully is that you dont want to disturb the bolts that the toilet is fastened to. Its a pain in the neck to replace them, but it can be done if you do knock one of them out.

6. Lift up on the toilet and set it aside. Chances are, if you look up at the bottom of your toilet, your toy soldier or toilet roll holder is lodged at the turn right before the water p