Do you find your drains are constantly gurgling, backing up or emitting nasty odours? You probably have a drain blockage, and addressing it sooner rather than later is the best way to prevent potentially severe damage to your home’s pipe system.
There are many different reasons why your drains might be blocked, but we’ve collected the five most common so you can quickly narrow down the cause. Once you know what the cause of the blockage is, you can start working on a solution to clear your drains and return your property’s pipe system to normal.
You’re Putting Food Scraps Down The Sink
One of the most common causes of blocked drains is actually pretty simple–you’ve blocked them with food scraps from your kitchen sink. This usually happens when you’re washing your dishes and, rather than scraping your plates into the bin, you let the water take the scraps into your sink and down the drain. This can seem a lot faster and easier than disposing of food in the garbage, but unfortunately, it’s also one of the easiest ways to clog your drains.
Your drain is designed to carry water away, so adding any sort of food to the mix is asking for trouble–and this includes ‘liquids’ like cooking oil and melted butter. In fact, grease and fats are some of the worst things to put down your drain. While most foods, like vegetables, meats and bread, will soften over time, grease will harden once it cools and become a sticky glob that clumps in your drain and narrows the remaining space for anything else to pass through.
Food that gets caught and stuck in your drains will eventually start to rot, becoming not only a blockage but also a source of nasty smells from your drain. They’ll also attract all sorts of pests to make their homes in your pipe system, which can result in health hazards for you and your family.
Preventions and Fixes
If you don’t really want to go to the effort of scraping your plates clean before washing them, then invest in a drain strainer. By using a drain strainer you can prevent food from ever making its way into your pipes at all. This makes it easy to remove the strainer and dispose of any scraps straight into your bin.
Of course, a strainer won’t stop cooking oils from entering your drain. For these, empty any old cooking oils and fats into an empty jar, which you can then let cool and dispose of when full. If you struggle to pour oils straight from the pan into a jar, first transfer them into a jug with a spout, such as a measuring jug, and then pour them into the jar.
If your drain has become blocked from food, there are a few ways you can try to unclog it. A plunger can work well if your sink has backed up with water, as it can force the blockage through the pipes and into your suburb’s large sewage system. Or, you can use a drain snake/drain auger to break up the blockage and pull it back up through the drain so you can dispose of it in the trash.
You’ve Tried To Flush Too Much Toilet Paper
While toilet paper is made to be flushed, that doesn’t mean you can fill the bowl up with it and expect it all to flush away easily. Trying to flush too much toilet paper at once can cause it to become stuck in your toilet’s pipes, which can then cause the water to back up and overflow from the bowl–along with everything else you were trying to flush!
Another way your pipes can get blocked when you flush is trying to flush anything other than toilet paper. Sanitary pads, diapers and yes, sometimes even ‘flushable wipes’, can all absorb water, expand and then clog your drainage system.
Blocked toilet pipes can become a serious health hazard if they overflow and bring waste with them, and severe blockages can damage your pipes too.
Preventions and Fixes
The easiest way to keep your toilet clear is never to flush too much toilet paper at once, and only flush toilet paper and not other sanitary products. Have a bathroom bin nearby that you can use to dispose of sanitary items to prevent the temptation to flush them.
If your toilet has become clogged down in the pipes, rather than overflowing over the bowl, then you can use a plunger to try and clear it–make sure the plunger you are using is large enough and the right shape to completely cover the toilet drain.
If your toilet is blocked and the water is too high for you to use a plunger in, try adding hot water and dish soap to the bowl. The hot water can soften the clog, while the dish soap will make the inside if the pipe more slippery to encourage the blockage to clear when you try to flush. You can also try using a drain snake to break up the clog inside the pipe.
Need help with a blocked toilet in Melbourne? Sven’s Blocked Drains can assist in clearing the blockage and even replace your toilet if necessary!
There Are Tree Roots Blocking Your Pipes
Underground tree roots will naturally grow towards a source of water, and sometimes, that source can be your home’s pipe system! Tree roots can break through the sides of the pipe when they seek water, which not only disrupts the flow of water but can also cause it to leach out into the surrounding soil.
Tree roots can act as a blockage in your pipes, preventing water from draining correctly and causing old water to instead come back up your system into your sink, shower or toilet. If the water instead runs out of the break in the pipe and into your soil, then you may find this part of your property becomes waterlogged over time, and your home could become unstable.
Preventions and Fixes
The only way to prevent roots from entering your pipes is not to plant trees near your home in the first place–something that is hard to do if you’re moving into an existing property with vegetation or you love the idea of a home surrounded by nature.
If you suspect tree roots have entered your piping system, then you’ll need professional help to remove them. Small incursions can often be cleared when, after inspections using drain cameras, a high-pressure water cutter that uses powerful jets of water is used to slice the roots and push them down the pipes into the sewer system. In cases where the pipes are very badly damaged and full of tree roots, the pipe may need to be dug up, removed and replaced with a new pipe.
Sven’s Blocked Drains offers pressure jet services to clear drains without digging!
Your Pipes Are Damaged
Damaged pipes won’t be able to do their job effectively, so even if you’re not flushing the wrong items or forcing food down your drains, damaged pipes will still cause your drainage system to suffer.
Your pipe won’t be able to effectively run water to and from your property if it is cracked, rusted, has split or has collapsed. This can happen if your pipes have become damaged from an outside source, like tree roots or mechanical digging, or from inside materials like caustic acids, food and other materials that shouldn’t go through your pipes in the first place. Your pipes may degenerate and break down if they are just very old, too!
If water isn’t backing up through your system, chances are it will be leaking out instead, wasting water and weakening the soil around your property.
Preventions and Fixes
Prevent damage to your pipes by never using caustic cleaning solutions and stick to safe mixtures like baking soda and vinegar instead. Be aware when digging around your pipes or hiring others to do work around them, as heavy machinery and even the sharp edge of a shovel can break through a pipe.
Pipes can be fixed in a few different ways, but you’ll usually need professional help for a long-lasting repair. Small cracks or gaps in the pipe can be repaired through patching, or longer sections needing work can be relined using a fibreglass liner. Badly damaged pipes will need to be dug up and completely replaced.
Renew your pipes with Sven’s Blocked Drains’ drain relining in Melbourne service.
There’s Hair In Your Pipes
Individual hairs are small, but when bundled together can cause quite a headache for property owners. Hair bundles can latch onto the smallest imperfections or existing clogs in your drains and make them much worse, entangling future fats and food that enter your drains and collecting them to form a more complete and hard-to-dislodge clog.
Hair can enter your pipes through your bathroom sink or shower drain and will often tangle around the drain itself before falling through.
If you’re looking for blocked drain services in Balwyn, Burwood, Doncaster, Glen Iris, Northcote, or Richmond, we’ve got you covered.
Preventions and Fixes
Using drain strainers/catches is a great way to catch hair before it slips into your drains. Make sure to pick up and dispose of any hairs in these devices in the bin after every use of your bathroom.
If hair has slipped into your pipes and formed a clump, you may be able to pull it out by using a drain snake or something like a coat hanger. But if you’re using a makeshift tool like an unrolled coat hanger or a wire, be very careful not to scratch or even puncture your pipes while you fish around for the clog.
Need emergency blocked drain services in Melbourne? Sven’s Blocked Drains is up to the task at any time of day–or night!
Got Blocked Drains? Trust Sven’s Blocked Drains To Clear Them!
Clearing blocked drains on your own might result in more damage being done to your system, so why take the chance? Leave your blocked drains to the professionals at Sven’s Blocked Drains! We are based in Hawthorn and service the inner east of Melbourne as local blocked drain specialists.
You can contact our team by calling 1300 DRAIN, or use our online booking system to tell us about your problem. Our team will arrive fully equipped to solve all your drainage problems with the speed and professionalism we are known for!
