A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Drain Cleaning

Is your sink taking a little longer to drain? Is there water pooling around your feet when you are in the shower? Is there a strange and unpleasant odor coming from your drains?

Well, all these are signs that you will have a clogged drain soon. You need to know how to clean your drains to avoid any plumbing emergencies.

DIY Drain Cleaning Tips To Avoid Plumbing Emergencies

A Bent Wire Hanger

It’s an effective drain cleaning method that will remove any clogs before they come serious. Go to your closet and get a regular wire hanger. Try to straighten it out as much as possible. Bend over one of the ends to create a hook. Push it over the drain cover and start pulling out the clogs inside there.

With this hook, you can remove the hair and any other things inside your drain that might lead to a clog. Remember, you need to pull out the gunk and not push it in. Once you have removed as much of the gunk as possible, you can run hot water and clear out everything.

Vinegar And Baking Soda

Use a measuring cup to mix a 1/3rd of baking soda with a 1/3rd of vinegar. It will start fizzing immediately. Next, you should pour the fizzing mixture down the drain. It will remove the gunk, grime or hair that has most likely built up in the drains. You can leave the mixture in the drains for an hour or overnight for the best results. Flush out the mixture with hot water and clean your drains accordingly.

Boiling Water

Boil some water using your kettle. Use some hand towels to hold the kettle to avoid getting burned. Next, pour the boiling hot water down the drain allowing for a few seconds for the hot water to work through the drain before the next pour. It’s the easiest and quickest way to unclog a drain. You should see your water moving faster and the odd smells will disappear immediately.

Caustic Soda

Make sure you have some eye protection and rubber gloves before doing this. Caustic soda is also known as sodium hydroxide and is likely going to cause chemical burns if not handled properly. You can find it in your local hardware store but you need to be extremely cautious when handling it.

Pour some water into your mop bucket and add 3 cups of caustic soda. Use a wooden spoon to stir up the mixture properly. You will see some fizzing immediately. It’s also going to start heating up. You can pour it into the drain and leave it for about 20 to 30 minutes before pouring some boiling water to clean up the drain. You can repeat this procedure if you see fit for the best results.

Other Drain Cleaning Procedures

If none of the DIY drain cleaning methods work, you can also use a drain snake. T’s a low-tech piece of equipment that will clean your drains effortlessly. With all these drain cleaning methods, you will end up avoiding catastrophic plumbing emergencies.

Of course, if you’re drains are so clogged that these do-it-yourself methods fail to solve the problem then you can always call us for a professional plumber to be sent to your home or business to solve the problem.