What Do You Do if Your House Is Toilet-papered (Rolled)

Toilet papering a house, also called yard rolling or house wrapping, is a common activity younger people carry out. These forms of neighborhood vandalism are very frustrating to deal with. They basically throw the toilet paper as high as possible, so when it unrolls, it goes all over your trees, lawn, house, or vehicle. In most cases, it’s intended as a fun prank; however, on rare occasions, there may be malicious intent.

Walking outside to see rolls of toilet paper covering your trees, porch, roof, and more is definitely a major inconvenience. You may be wondering, what do you do if your house is toilet-papered? Read on to find out if there are legal actions you can take, how to clean up the toilet paper, and more.

Key takeaways

• Assess the damage and seek help before cleaning up the toilet paper
• Clean the toilet paper from the highest places first, using long sticks, poles, or rakes
• Various charges are associated with the act that the perpetrator can face when caught

What do you do if your house is toilet-papered aka getting rolled

The first step is you’ll want to assess the damage of the toilet-papering incident and attend to the most potentially hazardous situations first. This could be toilet paper on a wet area that may cause a fall or toilet paper clogging up a ventilation system on your home.

You’ll want to try and get the toilet paper cleaned up before it starts to rain. If it’s already wet, waiting until the toilet paper has dried will make it easier to clean up.

You can report the incident to the police since the act most likely violated various local and state laws around trespassing, littering, disorderly misconduct, and property damage.

Regardless of whether legal action is taken, you will probably want some help cleaning up the mess. To turn a bad situation into a benefit for your garden, consider composting the gathered toilet paper. You can add it to your compost pile without adverse effects as long as it doesn’t contain ink.

How do you clean your toilet-papered house?

When assessing how to remove toilet paper from around your home, you want to take note of the areas most heavily hit and where the toilet paper lines start and end. Start cleaning from the highest points first, like your roof or treetops.

So that when the toilet paper falls, you aren’t redoing a lower area that you already cleaned. You can use telescoping poles, long sticks, and rakes to remove the toilet paper from most high places.

Once you’ve disposed of the bulk of the toilet paper in the garbage, use a leaf blower to gather small pieces into a pile. But make sure to save this step for last or you might end up with a bigger mess.

Can someone be charged with toilet-papering your home?

While throwing toilet paper may appear harmless, there are criminal charges that are associated with the act. Remember, toilet-papering refers to throwing large amounts of toilet paper and leaving the paper behind. Typically not just one roll. The specifics of the consequences for each charge will depend on your local and state laws.

The types of charges that can be brought up against a perpetrator include:

• Trespassing if they unlawfully enter your property to commit the act
• Littering by discarding and scattering waste in a place not intended for waste
• Disorderly conduct with the intent to cause a nuisance
• Disorderly conduct due to a hazardous condition as a result of throwing the toilet paper
• Criminal mischief where a person interferes with another’s property to cause substantial inconvenience
• Property damage if removing the toilet paper damages any branches, windows, or roof tiles
• Property damage if the toilet paper disturbs certain utilities connected to the property

Can you call the police if your home is toilet-papered?

Yes, you can. If the toilet papering causes significant property damage or was done with malice, there could be criminal charges for the perpetrators. If you have video cameras installed, you can simply request the culprits clean up the mess.

The courts may choose to charge them on one of the violations listed above associated with the act. However, they will consider how you as the homeowner feel about the pursuit of criminal charges against the perpetrators before taking action.

Conclusion

Having your house toilet-papered isn’t a pleasant experience for anyone and a big mess to clean up. Make sure you use the right techniques, avoid cleaning wet toilet paper, and get enough help to make the process go smoothly.

If you caught the culprits on camera or want to press legal charges, there are also plenty of violations toilet-papering a house falls under. This includes trespassing, littering, disorderly misconduct, and property damage.