Blocked drains often begin as a minor issue only, but gradually they escalate to turn into major plumbing problems. A blocked drain is responsible for causing flooding, corrosion, and slow drainage of water. In extreme cases, it can also lead to sewage backup that may need extensive repairs. You will be able to prevent them in the first place if you know what materials often stick in the drains. Do not flush out grease and oily substances through your kitchen sink and always use a dustbin to store foreign substances in your bathroom. Apart from that, you need to hire trained blocked drain cleaning professionals once in a month and they can clean your drainage system to keep your home hygienic. Plus, they can identify the potential damages and leakages of your drainage system, and repair the same to save your cost.
How Would You Maintain Your Drainage System?
Here are some of the most common household materials that cause blockage in the drains, and you can find some tips to prevent them from causing an issue.
- Dirt: When you take shower or wash clothes in your bathroom, or wash utensils in the kitchen sink, a small amount of dirt passes through the drain, and some of them even gets stuck in the drain walls and cause blocked drains. Therefore, it is advised to install a strainer on your drain outlets to accumulate these particles, and later you can collect these substances or dirt to dispose them off.
- Soap: You would least think about soap to cause drainage problems, but most soaps are made with fat or grease that combines with water minerals and leaves soap scum that clogs pipes. To prevent this problem, consider switching to fat-free soaps or soap-free washing methods.
- Hair: Hair is one of the most common materials that are found stuck in blocked drains. They can easily bind with fat and grease and form clogs. The best advice to deal with them is to prevent them from falling in the first place. Keep your hair tied in a shower, wear a shower cap, and don’t comb in the bathroom. There are guards that are specifically designed to catch hair entering the drains and you can easily clean them on regular basis.
- Toilet paper: Toilet paper is designed to dissolve on its own, but excessive use of it can cause blockage in your drains. To prevent this situation, keep a dustbin in your bathroom and ask your family members to throw the used toilet paper in it.
- Food waste: Never allow food waste to go into your kitchen sink drain, even if you have garbage disposal system in your sink. Tea leaves, coffee grounds, chicken bones, and other food waste should be thrown in the bin before you keep the plates in the sink. If your plates are greasy or oily, wipe them off with a paper towel before keeping them in the sink. Doing this will allow minimum amount of food waste to go down the sink drain, and avoid any blocked drains problem.
- Tiny objects: You may never know, but your children or pets may end up throwing their tiny ball, toy parts or other tiny objects in the toilet. If some foreign object has gone down your drain, there is no way to take it out and you need to call a professional expert to have it removed from your blocked drains.
With so many materials causing blocked drains, the best way to repair them is to prevent them in the first place. There are many tools and cleaners to clear drains, but if you cannot clean your drain with DIY tools them you must call an experienced plumber to get professional help.