Prevention is the first step: clear those clogs and slow-running drains before any real problems can begin:
- Catch hair and food scraps with a screen or drain trap;
- Never pour grease down the drain;
- Deodorize and maintain drains with a weekly treatment of 1/2 cup baking soda, rinsed with a kettle of boiling water; and
- Pour 1/4 cup vinegar down the drains every week or so to keep them fresh.
If a drain does get clogged, you can try some simple home remedies before reaching for the super-toxic chemicals. It’s cheaper, safer, and better for the environment:
- Remove as much as you can of the material blocking the pipe, using a plumber’s “snake” and your old-fashioned rubber plunger.
- To shift small clogs, pour 1/2 cup baking soda straight into the drain, then 1/2 cup vinegar. Quickly, plug the drain opening. Let it fizz away for 15 minutes or more, then pull the plug, and rinse with lots and lots of very hot water. Repeat as needed.
In dire straits? Take your plumbing conundrums to the Web! When that all-important toilet drain starts acting up, Kay Keating’s Toiletology 101 is the Internet equivalent of that handy night-school course you always wish you’d taken…
Okay, speaking from authority … I really am a plumbers daughter… your link to Toiletoloy 101 is priceless and dead on. Great post ; )
And you have to love the name, too, right? Toiletology 101 - I’d kill to have been the one to come up with it.