Preventing Clogs in Different Areas in Your Home
- We can tell from experience that when your plumbing is not in good condition a lot of things can go wrong. Clogs here, there and everywhere! They sometimes made themselves known through a warning, other times no message of caution at all! But one thing for sure, they come with disasters that eventually call for pipe repair, worse, a complete house repiping. So before that happens, use this guide to learn about ways you can best avoid them and how to solve it.
Know Your Pipes
- Preventing clogs in the kitchen
- Clogs are the number one problem that every kitchen sink drain encounters. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it just happens out of nowhere. With all the food, scraps, oils, etc., it wouldn’t take long for issues to arise, especially with old plumbing. This is especially true if you have a garbage disposal, where you are more likely to toss larger food items down the drain that you normally would. Thinking they’ll be shredded into bits and will travel down the line.
- To keep a happy drain at all times, put into practice these few simple things. Remove food waste from kitchenware first and wipe the remaining grease and debris off with a paper towel. Dispose of the paper towel properly. You can also collect your used cooking oil in a jar for reuse, or recycle. Whichever works best for you, as long as you don’t dump them in the kitchen drain. When fats, grease and oil makes its way down the drain pipe it will combine with the dirt and gunks that are already in the drainage to create a massive clog. Plungers are life-savers when it comes to clog situations, so always keep a plunger under the kitchen.
- Preventing clogs in the bathroom
- Your bathroom is another place for slow or clogged drains. If you want to play it safe, install a drain guard that is great at catching hairs, dirt and debris in the sink and tub. Clear the drain guard after shower and make sure you’ve cleared all the dirt or hair clinging in it. Don’t use fancy bath bombs if you don’t want to end up with a flood in your bathroom. Liquid soap is safer than bath bombs and solid soaps. Solid soaps can form soap scums while bath bombs contain particles that are terrible for your bathroom drains like coffee grounds, confetti, glitters, etc. Most of them don’t dissolve or break down and only end up clogging your drains.
- Preventing clogs in the toilet
- A toilet is meant to last a long time but unfortunately, they see a lot of use and start to wear away. Imagine how many times an average person can spend their time on the toilet and how many flushes they do. Not to mention the things you flush down the toilet. The working parts could loosen and clogs will develop overtime. To avoid clogging your toilet, make sure to only flush items that dissolve. That means, you have to skip your toilet paper and baby wipes. They’re flushables but they only contribute to clogs in the long run. Toilet paper takes a long time to dissolve while baby wipes don’t dissolve at all. No matter what the product label says, don’t be tempted to flush them down the toilet. Besides, your waste basket may just be beside where your toilet seat is, so toss them there instead. You may want to also educate your family members about this, especially if you have kids at home.
- Preventing clogs in the laundry room
- There shouldn’t be any water in the washer after the cycle is finished, but if there is, chances are you might have a malfunctioning appliance or a clogged drain. Either way, you should contact a professional to narrow down the problem. A great way to keep your washer’s drain pipe clog-free is to use a lint catcher. It helps prevent residues and lints from reaching the drain. To make sure it works without a problem, clean the collected lint as well as the residue from detergents and fabric softeners frequently, or after every load. Dip your lint filter in hot water and give them a good brush with a soft brush or towel. Regularly clean your catcher or as needed. New lint catchers are more effective in trapping dirt and debris than old ones.
Other Daily Clog Prevention
- • Always turn on your garbage disposal in the kitchen before and after tossing food waste.
- • Never put fibrous, stringy, difficult to grind up, and insoluble food waste down the sink drain.
- • Run the hot water for at least 15 seconds after using the disposal. This ensures any remaining food waste is flushed down the drain and no grease will harden and cake your drain pipes.
- • Avoid using chemical clog remover in all clog situations.
- • Don’t treat your toilet as a trash can. Only human waste and water go down the toilet.
- • Install drain filters to keep sink drains freely flowing.
- • Check for potential leaks caused by clogs. Look for signs of moisture, like puddles of water, musty smell, and mold.
Preventing Clogs in the First Place
What you do daily can go a long way. That’s why it’s important to clear a clog before it becomes a complete blockage. Clogs are not only nuisances, they can weaken your pipes and shorten their lifespan. So, better yet, prevent blockages in the first place. We can camera down the drain or any areas in your home and fix clogs if it’s just what it needs to get them working again. But, if you’re already in bad luck for having frequent clog problems, don’t wait long till you call us. Revolution Pipe Relining provides pipe relining services to fix fractured or busted pipes caused by blockages. Our Sydney relining solutions e.g. pipeline relining, sewer pipe relining, drain pipe relining, cast-iron pipe relining and trenchless sewer relining makes it easy for us to fix pipes without the need to dig them up.