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The average cost to hire a plumber is typically between $45 and $200 per hour, with a common average rate around $125 per hour. This cost can vary based on your location, the plumber's experience, and the complexity of the job. Rates are often broken down by experience level: an apprentice may charge $45 to $90 an hour, a journeyman $60 to $110 an hour, and a master plumber $80 to $200 an hour. While hourly rates are standard, some plumbers may charge a flat fee for routine projects or offer project-based pricing. It's also common for plumbers to charge a minimum service or trip fee. For reference, some typical flat-rate costs for common jobs include: drain unclogging ($220), leaky faucet repair ($270), burst pipe repair ($400), toilet repair ($300), and water heater repair ($600). Note that these rates are for standard service hours; emergency, holiday, and after-hours calls will cost significantly more.

Basement toilets don’t always need a pump. However, it is the most common setup because plumbing systems use gravity to move waste away from the home. Basement toilets often sit below the home’s main sewage system, and installing a sewage ejector pump pushes the wastewater and sewage up to the main sewer line. Alternatively, you can use an upflush or macerator toilet that breaks down the waste and pushes it straight to the main sewer line rather than via a sewer line from the bathroom.

If a toilet is not properly vented, you could experience issues like poor drainage, slow flushing, frequent clogs, malfunctioning traps, gurgling noises, and the release of sewer gasses. If left untreated, all of these issues could lead to longer term structural damage or (in the case of sewer gasses) harmful health side effects.

The amount of water wasted when a toilet ghost flushes depends on the cause of the ghost flushing. Leaky flapper valves tend to waste less water than a larger problem like a damaged flush valve that makes the toilet run constantly. Even if you don’t think you’re wasting a lot of water, it’s still a problem that should be fixed quickly.