Top Tips to Help You Prevent Blocking Your Sink
Getting a blocked sink can be a highly frustrating problem that can prevent us from our usual tasks. We’ve all had that unhappy situation where our sinks are full of gunk and mess and the water stands in the sink without moving while it gets gradually stagnant and we all know how unpleasant this can be. It’s not just a matter here of it being annoying having to wait for the sink to empty – it also means you end up with washing piling up (if it’s in the kitchen), with the room and the nearby rooms starting to smell, with fruit flies buzzing around the sink and with you being unable to wash your hands properly even. If it’s in your bathroom then it results in globs of toothpaste floating around in the sink which is highly unpleasant and again a sure fire way to make yourself stressed over time.
There are many ways you can unplug the sink once it becomes blocked – for instance by using drain un-blocker products or calling a plumber when it gets really serious, but better yet of course is to avoid the situation happening in the first place by being smart in the way you use your sink. Here we will look at how to avoid the situation developing in the first place.
The Kitchen Sink
Take No Chances: Be honest – you have had moments where you’ve washed things down the plughole knowing you shouldn’t. All of us have done it where we have a bowl of left over dinner and rather than doing the right thing and just throwing it away, we instead cross our fingers and hope it will go down the sink. This of course is a one-way ticket to ‘blocked sinksville’ and it’s a good idea to avoid that problem by just making sure that you don’t push your luck. If you aren’t sure – throw it in the bin.
Use Hot Water: Washing up with hotter water will break down items of food, hair and anything else going down your sink – so once the water in your bowl goes cool it’s worth pouring it out and refilling rather than carrying on.
Waste Disposal Unit: A waste disposal unit is a unit that will chop and shred your food as it goes down the sink that sits just inside the plug (too deep for hands preferably). You can then chop directly into the sink even and turn on the waste disposal unit at the end to destroy even large lumps. This makes it almost (almost) impossible to block your sink.
Use a Bowl: Having a bowl inside your sink is very useful to prevent blockages because it means anything that you wash off your plates into the sink will never reach the plug. Now wash up in there as though it were your sink and instead of pouring it away when you’re finished go and flush the remaining water down the toilet (making sure there are no knives).
In the Bathroom
Clean Regularly: The biggest problem in the shower and in your bathroom sink for blocked sinks is hair, and this is something that tends to build up over time. The solution is to make a concerted effort to just remove the hair that collects around the plug hole each time after you wash rather than waiting for it to develop into a problem.
Get a Drain Cover: If your sink keeps getting blocked then it may be that you need a better drain cover. This will sit over your plug and filter out anything too large which in turn will help to prevent those things getting into the drain.
Keep the Soap Out the Sink: If you leave your soap lying in the sink it’s not only unhygienic – it’s also a sure-fire way for it to get clogged, so don’t do it!
The above guest post is written by Ashley Kris, home improvement blogger. She is a home maker and shares home improvement tips through guest post. She uses Plug valves as simple shut-off valves in household natural gas lines from Total Flow Control.