When A Clogged Drain Requires The Help Of A Professional Plumber | Maryville, TN
Wednesday, March 29th, 2023
There are countless tools readily available for homeowners needing to tackle clogged drains in their homes. From plungers to drain snakes to chemicals of all kinds, hardware and grocery stores are often the first places that people run to for help when slow-draining sinks or bathtubs with standing water become an issue. Most people don’t think to hire the services of a trained plumber for a clogged drain, which is often viewed as an inconvenience that can be easily fixed with one of the DIY methods available on store shelves or in online tutorials. And while an occasional clogged drain might not point to significant problems in your home’s plumbing, if this is something you deal with regularly, it is something that should be checked out by a professional. If unclogging your home’s drains has become a common chore, call My Professional Plumber for help today.
When Your Sink or Tub Not Draining Is a Regular Occurrence
A clogged drain in your home could be a rare inconvenience that is easily remedied through the use of a drain snake, plunger or bottle of draining-cleaning chemicals. Common culprits of clogged drains in your house include fats and food waste in the kitchen and hair and sticky body care products in your bathrooms’ tubs or sinks. Many times, these obstructions can be fished out with a plastic snake. Plastic snakes are cheap and good to keep on hand, and they can quickly remove things that are still close to the drain’s surface. If this doesn’t work, plungers, which come in various sizes and types depending on your needs, are an easy way to force a clog further down your pipes.
If you find yourself, however, dealing with sinks or tubs that won’t empty regularly and there isn’t any obvious gunk, hair, or debris obstructing the flow, you might have a larger problem on your hands, one that might require the services of a professional plumber. Furthermore, if you’ve been using a plunger to remedy a clogged sink, tub or toilet frequently, it could very well be that a larger obstruction has formed and settled further in your pipes, something a trained plumber would need to locate and eliminate using a commercial snake or water-jet technology.
Don’t Ignore Foul Smells — They Could Point to Trouble
A clogged drain can often smell and, ideally, if you can remove the culprit, the odor should go away. However, if you find that there’s still a rotten or musty scent coming from your sink or tub, it could point to an obstruction or build-up that a snake can’t grab or reach or a plunger cannot force from the walls of the pipe. While it’s relatively easy to remove your sink’s trap, it’s a messy job and it’s no guarantee that removing it and emptying its contents or any standing water will remedy the issue. Employing the services of a plumber trained and experienced in locating and eliminating hard-to-reach clogs is your best course of action. Furthermore, a trained plumber can determine whether the smells are being caused by issues other than a stubborn clog.
While we might be quick to seek a remedy for foul smells in our kitchens and bathrooms, we might shrug off foul plumbing-related odors in our basements because they don’t affect us as much. The truth is, they can point to big problems with the drainage under your house, from large clogs obstructing your drain stack and sewer line to tree roots blocking waste or even causing backflow. Don’t blow off unusual smells, or sounds for that matter, as they often point to larger issues that cannot be resolved with DIY tools, tips and tricks. Expert plumbing services can pinpoint and eliminate clogs large and small and prevent larger issues down the road involving your home’s underground plumbing systems.
Drain Cleaners Are Easy to Find But Dangerous
Probably the most popular go-to product for clearing clogged drains is chemical drain cleaners. While they can be effective, they often take time to work and can require multiple uses. In addition, they are very dangerous. They can cause anything from mild irritation to your skin to life-threatening injury if accidentally ingested. It’s best practice if you have just poured a drain cleaner down a sink or tub, to close off the area while the chemical works. If you only have one bathroom in your house, this can be extremely inconvenient and frustrating.
Furthermore, opting to do multiple rounds of drain cleaner to remedy a stubborn clog, instead of hiring a professional, can be costly and can cause damage to already damaged or compromised plumbing systems. If you’re tired of spending your hard-earned money and precious time, in addition to risking your health, using toxic chemicals to clear drains, My Professional Plumber can send a plumber skilled in diagnosing drainage issues in your home.
A Plumbing Expert Can Locate and Prevent Other Potential Problems
Are you tired of grabbing the plunger or running to the hardware store for dangerous chemicals every time a sink or bathtub won’t drain? When you hire an expert to finally evict pesky blockages from your home’s pipes, you can also rely on them for other services, like locating other potential plumbing-related issues in your home that may have gone unnoticed. If you’ve never hired a plumber to inspect your home’s pipes, sinks, tubs or toilets, now is the time. Chronically clogged drains may point to larger systemic issues that could result in big trouble and costly repairs down the road. Particularly if you live in an old home with original galvanized pipes, you should take extra care in addressing clogs so as not to cause additional damage. My Professional Plumber understands the needs of plumbing systems and we’ll send a plumber to you that will tend to your issues with utmost care.
Are clogs and slow-draining sinks becoming more than an occasional nuisance? If you’re in Maryville, Tennessee, call My Professional Plumber today for affordable and stress-free service by certified plumbers you can trust.
See our most recent blog on this topic here.
Photo By Andrei Zonenko at istock