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Common Causes Of Blocked Sinks And Drains To Watch Out For

Clogged sinks and drains can be a nightmare to deal with. When you have a blockage somewhere, it will soon start to smell and you won’t be able to use the sinks properly until you deal with the blockage. If you find that your sinks and drains are getting blocked all of the time, you are probably making some simple mistakes somewhere.

These are some of the most common causes of blocked sinks and clogged drains  to watch out for

Grease and Food 

When you do your washing up, are you pouring old bits of food or grease down the sink? If you are, you’re going to be dealing with constant blockages. Bits of food like pasta or rice that take on water will swell up when they go down the sink. Any grease that you pour down the sink will stick to the sides and eventually cause a big blockage. It’s important that you let grease and oil cool down after cooking and then pour it into the bin. Make sure that you clear all of your plates properly before putting them in the sink as well. If you do find that you have a blocked kitchen sink, you should never put drain cleaner down there. Store bought drain cleaners can contain nasty chemicals that irritate your skin or your eyes, and they can cause a reaction if they mix with other cleaning products that you are using. It’s best to call out a professional to deal with the blockage without the need for nasty chemicals. 

Sewage Line Issues

In some cases, the blockage runs a lot deeper and you may have a problem with the sewage lines under your home. Sometimes, tree roots can grow into the pipes and cause a blockage. If you can’t find any source of blockage in the home, you should look into the cost of replacing sewer line and get a professional opinion. If you don’t deal with sewage line issues, they will continue to get worse and the blockage will back up into your home, causing some serious problems with overflowing toilets and sinks. 

Flushing Things Down The Toilet 

A lot of people have issues with blocked toilets because they flush things down there that they shouldn’t. Things like diaper wipes, feminine hygiene products, cotton swabs and even dental floss can lead to blockages. You may be able to get these blockages out with a plunger but if it won’t budge, you will need to call in a professional company to help you out. Before you flush anything down the toilet, consider whether it will disintegrate or not. Most products will tell you on the packaging if they are safe to flush down the toilet or not, so always double check. 

Hair 

Hair is the most common cause of blocked drains in the bathroom and it can be tricky to deal with. If you don’t already, you should have a hair catcher in the shower to stop it from going down the drain. You also need to clean out your shower trap on a regular basis to stop the hair from building up. 

If you can avoid the common causes of blocked drains and sinks in the first place, you can save yourself a lot of time and money. 

 

11 thoughts on “Common Causes Of Blocked Sinks And Drains To Watch Out For

  • I’ve been trimming my hair into the sink, and I thought that it would be fine. I had no idea that this kind of thing could cause clogs in my drains! That’s definitely something that I’ll need to get a professional to look at for me.

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  • Thanks for sharing this post. Even the smallest things that we put in our kitchen and bathroom can cause blocked sinks and now I have ideas what causes them to drain. Thanks for this blog, I can now avoid and maintain the cleanliness in our dirty kitchen, will buy the hair catcher. Thanks for the tips!!!

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  • We’ve had LOTS of hair blockages. We are a rather hairy family so we have to watch for that constantly.

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  • I always try to remember properly discard oils when cooking with them.

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  • We never pour used oil in our kitchen sink. I have a container where I pour used cooking oil into and luckily, the garbage collection in our area schedules pick up for kitchen waste three times a week.

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  • What a helpful post! I hate it when my shower drain gets clogged with hair 😖

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  • Hair and food are some of the worst for us. The tub is the worst for hair and the kitchen sink is always food. We always try to clean those out often though so they don’t get clogged.

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  • I have super long hair and I do my best to try to prevent it from going down the drain. But there is always a little bit that slips through. I need to clean out my shower very soon. I noticed that the water is draining a bit slower than normal.

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  • This is such a really great and very informative post! I need to clean out my shower this is so helpful!

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  • Clogged drains are not any fun at all! We do our best to keep hair and food from clogging the drain, but our house has very old drainage pipes. A few years ago we had to use a plumber’s snake to clean out the lines.

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  • We deal with so much hair in our drains in our household. Definitely something you have to stay on top of!

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