Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of “How NOT to Call the Plumber!”.
This is one of the easiest calls we get, but you can likely take care of it on your own and quite literally save hundreds of dollars! Let’s talk about those bathroom sinks that just won’t drain😊.
As I mentioned above, this is usually one of the most straightforward calls we get. 90% of the time, a blocked bathroom sink is nothing more than a buildup of hair and everything else that finds it’s way down that drain (makeup, toothpaste, your husband’s beard hairs, etc.). In these cases, if you know what to do, it will take you 5 minutes to solve this issue.
The first thing you’re going to do it to go online or to Home Depot and buy one of those things that I’ve put in the picture – it will cost you about $5. I don’t know what the name is, but for some reason I like to call it a swizzle stick – this is definitely not the right name, so don’t ask for that at the store or they’ll direct you to the kitchen/bar area!
Wielding your new swizzle stick, it’s time to go clear the drain. A compulsory part of drain cleaning is that while you’re walking to conquer the blockage, you hold the swizzle stick upright like a sword and try to intimidate the sink. This is a good time for your best Braveheart or Inigo Montoya quote.
Now that we’re at the newly intimidated sink, I’m going to let you in on the biggest trade secret of all. You see that cap that plugs the drain? Most of the time it will simply unscrew, giving you direct access to all of the gunk below. Don’t bother trying to work around/under that cap, unless you give it a try and it doesn’t want to budge (don’t try to unscrew it with enough force to break the drain either!).
This part is going to be a bit gross for many of you. I would probably suggest you put on some gloves and one of the masks that we all have lying around. Once you’ve donned your protective gear, all you need to do is put your swizzle stick down the drain and start moving it up and down, twisting it, etc. Those little barbs are going to catch any of the hair that is sticking to the inside of the drain and stopping the water from flowing smoothly. Remove as much as you can and give the sink a good test. You should see a big improvement! Screw the cap back on and you’re all done.
That’s all for this week – short but sweet! I hope to see you all at the hardware stores, buying the city out of swizzle sticks. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you next time!
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