Do You Really Need To Hire A Drain Cleaning Service? | Memorial City

5/30/2021

Photo By Andrey_Popov at Shutterstock

Once you’ve lived in a home for a while, you’ll deal with a slow or clogged drain. A clogged toilet or a sink that takes a while to drain might not seem like a huge problem, but these clogs only get worse with time. Eventually, drain clogs can lead to serious problems in your home. The best way to keep drain clogs from becoming a big problem is to keep your drains clean. If you’re on the fence about hiring a drain cleaning service, here’s why you should make the call sooner rather than later.

Why Do Drains Clog?

The first thing you need to understand if you want to keep your drains clean is why those drains get clogged in the first place. While drain clogs can occur naturally over time even if you’re careful with your drains, clogs are most commonly caused by homeowners putting the wrong things down drains.

Toilets are a common spot for clogs, especially for families with young children. The only paper product you should flush down your toilet is toilet paper; anything else will lead to a clog that a drain cleaning service will have to remove. Flushable wipes are a particularly big problem when it comes to drain clogs.

Bathroom sinks and showers are also common spots for clogs to occur thanks to the hair and soap buildup. If you or somebody in your family shaves in the shower or sink, either find a new shaving spot or invest in a drain catch. If you let hair and soap congeal in your drains, you’ll end up having to call a drain cleaning service company sooner rather than later.

Kitchen sinks are also a common spot for clogs, even if you have a garbage disposal. You might think your garbage disposal can handle whatever food you put down it, but it’s only meant to pulverize the bits of food that are leftover on dishes. Throw as much food in the garbage can before rinsing your dishes in the sink.

Are Drain Clogs Serious?

Most homeowners have dealt with a clogged drain at some point, and they may have even unclogged the drain without calling a Memorial City drain cleaning service. The truth is, however, that a clog that’s left unattended can lead to serious problems with your plumbing system.

One big concern with a clogged drain is the fact that clogs can lead to pipe damage. Not only do clogs affect the flow of water through pipes, but they can also lead to corrosion and other problems.

The biggest thing you have to worry about with a drain clog is a sewage backup. This occurs when sewage that would normally go down drain pipes and into the sewer system has no place to go, causing it to back up and enter your home. Fortunately, you can prevent sewage backups by scheduling regular drain cleaning services.

Cleaning Your Own Drains

As a homeowner, it’s generally best to call a professional instead of doing your own work on your home. However, there are a few things you can handle on your own when it comes to plumbing. As a matter of fact, cleaning your own drains every once in a while can help save you money on drain cleaning services.

The first step to cleaning your own drains is choosing the right liquid drain cleaner. Chemical-based cleaners such as Drano are dangerous because they can lead to pipe corrosion, so it’s best to opt for an enzyme-based drain cleaner. You can ask a drain cleaning service expert if you’re not sure which drain cleaner is right for you.

You might not know it, but plungers work great on sinks as well as toilets. If you’ve got a slow-draining sink or tub drain, try placing the plunger over the drain and using it to work the clog out.

It’s important to remember that you should never go beyond using a liquid drain cleaner and plunger to clean your drains. If you can’t get rid of a clog using a drain cleaner and a plunger, it’s time to call a plumber.

Preventing Drain Problems

Drain problems aren’t just an inconvenience, they’re gross and can actually be a hazard to your health. The good news is, there are a lot of little steps you can take to prevent drain problems.

First off, be careful about what you put down drains. As a general rule, solid objects shouldn’t go down drains unless they’re designed to break down in water (e.g. toilet paper). You should try especially hard to avoid putting fats, greases and oils down drains.

It’s also important to clean your drains every once in a while. Simply pouring a liquid drain cleaner in your drains and letting it work its magic once every month or so can make a big difference.

Most importantly, you need to call a drain cleaning service expert every few years. Gunk is going to build up inside your drains no matter what you do, so the only way to prevent serious drain problems is to have your drains cleaned regularly. At the very least, you should have somebody clean your drains every three to five years.

We’ve Got Your Back

Plumbing problems are difficult to deal with, especially when it means you can’t use a fixture in your home. Regular drain cleaning helps keep gunk from building up in pipes, which prevents some of the most inconvenient plumbing problems you can have.

If you need some help keeping your drains clean, bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of West Houston is happy to help. Our team of drain cleaning service experts knows how to pull out all the stops to keep your drains clean as a whistle. If you need the drains in your Memorial City home cleaned today, call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of West Houston.