Drain Cleaning Steps

Gather Supplies

You do not want to be elbow deep in drain cleaning when you look up and realize that you need a trash can or towel. Before you do anything, gather up everything that you will need. It is best to have an old towel available to dry off your hands and the cap to one of the drains. It may get pretty yucky, so you do not want to use anything that can not be ruined. Be sure to have a towel close by.

You need to have somewhere to toss all of the things that you are going to find as you clean. Keep it right beside you throughout the process. You may want to have some type of plumbing snake if you think that the clog is beyond your reach. If it is something that you can see, you can use your hands, (yes, it can be a little gross) or an object that can easily reach in and grab some of the debris.

Remove the Covers of the Drains

When drain cleaning, you want to be able to get to the area you are going to work on. Start by removing the caps or covers so that you are looking into one of the drains. While visibility will be low, you should at least be able to see some of the things preventing the water from going down correctly.

Using your fingers, or other object, reach in and remove whatever it is that you see. There might be something large that has gone down, but usually it is a combination of hair, toothpaste, and other items that consistently get rinsed into the sink. There is no way around this step. For the most part, it is prety disgusting and most people do not mind avoiding this task until absolutely necessary.

Getting Help

If the drain cleaning has been put off for a while and now the problem is more severe, consider calling in a local professional to come in and take care of everything. Their work will be more thorough and you can be sure that there will be no water backing up into the sink again for quite a while.

As with other homeowner maintenance, there will be things that you can do to prevent the build up from occurring again. Be sure to ask questions about what you can do in the future to make sure that the system runs smoothly. While drain cleaning is not something that can be skipped altogether, remember that there are companies in your area that can make the job a while lot easier.