Maybe you’ll be lucky, and it’s just the flapper. The toilets in my house have “water saving” flappers. If you want to flush anything…solid, just hold the handle down until whatever’s in the bowl disappears. That’s all the adjustment I’ve had to make, and clogs are a thing of the past.
You can hire someone to do a colonoscopy on your drains. They just run a snake with a camera on it down the line to where it connects to the street. That will tell you if you’ve got a break or any tree root problems between your house and the street. If that’s clear, then the next step would likely be to ditch the toilets.
Stopped in to make this same comment. Happened at our house a few years ago & it turned out that tree roots had grown into the main sewer line. If the obstruction had been on city property (sidewalk or further), it would have been the city’s responsibility to replace it. But it was in our front yard 
Generally, if it’s a tree root problem, or other type of obstruction, the drain closest to the main line will back up. In my son’s case, the shower was closest to the main line. And they had a lot of nasty yuck back up from that drain.
Three toilets, different floors, most likely the toilets.
~VOW
In my case, that’s what I would have expected, but no. Three toilets flushed poorly but with no obvious signs of backup, even when opening the clean out. But rostering the line did the trick.
We recently replaced several problematic toilets with modern Toto low flow models and they work great.
There was a 14"-16" redwood in the lawn about 20 feet or so from where the sewer line runs under the driveway. I had it removed last year as the roots were pushing up the front walk and threatening to do the same to the driveway. The sewer line is probably about 10 feet from the edge of the concrete so I didn’t think that the roots could be a problem, but I can have a plumber take a look just for piece of mind before I start pulling toilets.
Seriously, do the same test that you do in the video, but this time hold the flush handle down until everything disappears. It may be that the flapper is just coming down too early in the process. Holding the handle down will allow more water to dump into the bowl, and just might fix your problem.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t help much. It’s like the water flow is going underneath whatever’s in the bowl, and so doesn’t shove it down.
If you determine that new toilets are in the future, I recommend the American Standard Champion 4. It has a 4" opening from the tank to bowl and flushes great. Yes it’s low flow, but has a great bowl action.
Before I had my hip replaced I was on some pain killers with the side effect of constipation. No issues with this toilet. Had it for three years now and love it.
Might as well get “comfort” or “chair height” while you’re at it.
I would second (third? Ninth?) the suggestion of getting a sewer-camera down there.
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The “new homeowner” phrase set off alarms for me: A horror story told by a real estate guy when the wife and I were hunting for a new home was that some short-sellers and foreclosees tended to be rather disgruntled and would flush plaster powder or cement powder down the toilets. The initial effect would be a long thin hard clump down the middle of the 4" line – not enough to plug it up right away but enough to cause problems after months or years of solids pile up against it. The only way to detect that (he claimed) was to run a camera down the toilet hole.
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I’ve seen time and again that the first thing a fresh tree stump will do is try to grow, spreading roots and new shoots out in every direction to try and get more nutrients and sunlight and keep from dying. That could very likely include reaching in the direction of your sewer line, and if those roots find the slightest crack on the pipe, they’ll creep inside, find the water and start sucking up the water source to revive the tree – and, of course, that means those roots will grow and clog up more of that sewer line. We have also seen this occur in early Spring, after the heavy rains give way to steady sunlight and the trees come out of their dormant state.
You could experiment with some root-killer treatments but, if it’s a cement or plaster sabotage, you’ll just be wasting money. A camera will tell you what’s down there for sure and, if you’re lucky, it won’t be anything abnormal.
Good luck; please keep us apprised.
–G!
When my brother purchased his current home in Michigan, all five toilets were identical low-flow version 1.0 toilets.
One weekend he rented a truck and drove across the border into Canadia. He returned with five toilets. He cautions guests to flush with caution, as anything hear the bowl is going to be history.
He kept the original toilets, since he might need to reinstall them to be legal should he sell the house.
I don’t understand the hatred against low-flush toilets. Yeah, the early versions had issues, but we are 30 years into the technology and they have improved greatly.
Where does someone store five used toilets? That might be a cool seating option for around the fire pit. 
TMI:
[spoiler]I’ve never clogged a toilet My normal bowel movement is what many people would classify as diarrhea. Apparently, my brother is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Additionally, he purchased his current home in the early days of low-flush.
As to where he stored the 5 toilets, he and his wife live in a home with 5 toilets, a “gym” that is bigger than some commercial gyms, a “theater”, a “guest suite”, etc. Storage space is not an issue. [/spoiler]
My initial thought is a clogged or blocked vent line. Much like putting your finger over a straw in a drink, it will keep water from draining.
This is a good suggestion. Pull up an aerial shot of your house and see how many roof vent pipes you have. If all the vent stacks are through a common vent you may have debris(leaves, bird nest, etc.) in there that’s limiting the “pull” of the column of flushed water once it makes it past the trap(u-bend) in the individual toilets. This problem would also affect any other drains on the same vent stack, showers, sinks, etc. The reason I say to count roof vents is because, depending on the layout of the home(are all the bathrooms/kitchen on a common wet wall?) it is pretty rare to have everything on a single vent stack, but it can happen. Multiple vents reduces the likelihood of this being the issue.
Enjoy,
Steven
Cool?
I’d say drafty!
:eek:
—G!
You born in a barn? Keep the lid down!
Actually, I got into the lid down habit due to a couple decades of owning dogs.
My low-flush toilet is a newer variety that still has problems unless we dump more water. I do notice the tank could dump more if we could replace the floater mechanism to let it fill up more. ]
What’s weird is that it worked for a couple years before this became a problem, and then nothing we did would fix it.
That said, the other toilet (which is an old toilet) is also quite slow to flush, even thought it does work. Whereabouts are these vents?
Look at your roof. IME plumbing is vented through the roof by one or more plastic pipes, usually white or black. There can be covers or just bare pipes projecting through the roof. A typical situation.