One of the most common call outs a plumbing company gets are for clogged or blocked drains. Homeowners either can’t or don’t want to deal with clogged drains, and who can blame them. Clogged drains are yucky and having sewage back up into your home is something nobody wants. While having a plumber on hand to save the day is only a phone call away, often you can avoid clogged drains completely.
Here are some of the more common causes of clogged drains and how you can avoid them completely:
Kitchen
Food: Starting off in the kitchen, there are plenty of clogged drains because of food items that should not be put down your kitchen sink. Always scrape your plates off into the garbage or compost, never into the kitchen sink.
Cooking Oils and Grease: Leftover grease from frying should never get dumped down the sink. You can collect it in an old coffee can or some other container and then put it into the garbage. You can also check with your municipality and see what they want you to do with it. Once it goes down your drain it hardens and you get a clog.
Bathroom
Toilet Paper: In theory toilet paper is meant to break down but not every brand will do so, some of the brands that claim to be “extra soft” are actually pretty hard on your pipes since it doesn’t break down quickly or well. Don’t overdo the toilet paper and be careful with kids who are toilet training.
Hair: Hair and oils come off your body as you shower. If you have ever noticed your bathtub draining slowly or water building up as you shower then chances are pretty good it is caused by hair. There are products you can put down the drain that will take care of this for you. Yanking dirty, greasy hair out of the bathtub drain is not fun at all. You can avoid that completely with regular maintenance.
Feminine Hygiene Products: These are meant to go into the trash and nowhere else. They get flushed far too often and they shouldn’t be, you can find a discrete way to make sure they end up in the trash.
Toys: If you have ever had a toddler in your home then you have probably had them flush something they weren’t supposed to. This is just a matter watching and making sure they don’t flush anything that doesn’t belong.
Blocked drains are no fun for anyone and calling in an emergency plumber like Muccia Plumbing can be expensive, but with some good habits and a little maintenance you can avoid it altogether.