Clogs usually form slowly over time as waste accumulates on the walls of your pipes. Luckily, there may be signs that can help identify them before they become an acute issue. Being aware of these warning indicators can help with prevention.
Don’t be afraid to contact professionals for trustworthy assistance if you’re having trouble with stubborn plumbing clogs.
1. Hair
Bathroom sink drain clogs often result from hair accumulation. Even small strands of hair can quickly accumulate, creating an unruly gunk that blocks drain lines.
Hair clogs can come from when it falls off during showering or bathing and gets caught in your sink drain. You can stop this issue by installing a hair strainer drain cover or regularly maintaining and cleaning out your drain trap.
Clogs should be addressed as soon as possible, as they can lead to serious consequences like sewage backup.
If your bathroom drain is experiencing slow drainage, contact a plumber immediately so they can arrange a service visit, identify its source, and offer solutions tailored specifically to you.
2. Grease
Grease is composed of oil and forms an elastic network similar to a sponge. You may encounter grease in household products like soaps, shampoos, or lotions. When sent down a drain pipe, they can solidify into solid blocks that cause blockages.
An extremely challenging issue to solve, grease clogs are notoriously challenging to break apart. Sometimes, this process may take days and require professional services like hydrojetting or repiping to be resolved.
3. Soap scum
Soap scum is the white residue that builds up in your shower, bathtub, and sink areas. It comes from soap-containing cleaners interacting with minerals present in hard water sources (like calcium and magnesium ions). A sticky substance forms, trapping hair and food debris to cause blockages in drains and bathroom fixtures.
You can avoid this issue by regularly cleaning the surfaces in your tub, shower, and sink with non-abrasive scrubbing brushes or clean rags, as well as by using a non-toxic bathroom cleaner to keep soap scum away from drains.
In the case of serious soap scum clogs, you can pour boiling water down the drain. Alternatively, you can mix baking soda with clean water in a proportion of 1 teaspoon per quart to make baking soda paste that can not only eat away at soap scum but deodorizes as well.
4. Disposable wipes
Paper products like toilet paper and “flushable” wipes (even those labeled as such) can wreak havoc on your pipes by building up and creating difficult-to-broken-down clogs that are difficult to clear with just a plunger or snake use alone.
This is particularly problematic if your home features hard water, which causes mineral build-up that leads to mineral clogging that then forms nasty blockages in your plumbing.
Disposable wipes (including baby and cleaning wipes) have long been considered one of the major contributors to drain clogs across all sewer systems worldwide, particularly when flushable types are involved.
Nonwoven cloths do not disintegrate when passing through wastewater pipes and can bind with hair, soap scum, and other debris in a way that poses serious threats to homeowners and municipal sewer systems alike.
Wastewater experts encourage everyone to limit the use of wipes by throwing them in the garbage instead of flushing them.
