Maintain Your Drains With These Tips

Drains are subject to a lot of pressure. They work constantly in many different places of the inside and outside of a building, all in order to flush water and waste and prevent issues like flooding.

However, without proper care and consideration, drains can stop working and become blocked. This will lead to overflows, flooding, water damage, leaks, and even burst pipes.

Drains are essential to any and every property that uses water in some way, be it bathrooms, kitchens, or other. They are also essential for channelling water away during rain, preventing build up and floods. This pretty much means that every building needs drains in some form.

Even sheds can benefit from drainage options such as adding gutters, or will be placed near drains, or a water absorbing grassy area…

So, considering how essential they are, what can you do to prevent issues?

In this article, we’ll list some common drain maintenance tips. Of course, needing emergency drain services is unavoidable and unpredictable in some cases, such as heavy rains, storms or other issues. But here’s what you can do to reduce the likelihood of drain issues.

Reduce Drain Strain

Whilst drains are intended to be used throughout the day, every day, there are still things you can do to reduce the strain they are put under. Basically, this means you’ll need to change up your habits and behaviours a little to prevent yourself needing future drain repairs.

Don’t worry though, it only requires small changes. Essentially, you should look at drains as for water only, and try to avoid using them to dispose of anything else.

Here are some tips for each area of your house…

Kitchen Drains

In kitchens, avoid pouring too much food debris, sauces, oils, etc. down the sink. One little pea occasionally might not hurt, but make an effort to scrape as much food as you can from your plate into your bin or food waste bin instead.

You should do this because over time, the debris can get stuck in pipes, build up, block the pipes and start to smell awful. This is especially the case in summer, as the warm temperatures can reheat the rotten food – not nice!

You could potentially invest in a food disposal and have it installed in your sink drain, but these are more commonly used in America (known as garbage disposals). They essentially grind down food waste into small particles.

Food disposal units are priced around £100 to £400 (excluding installation costs) but due to the UK’s focus on recycling, reducing energy use and the environment, as well as the different plumbing systems from those in the US – food disposals are generally discouraged in favour of better, eco friendly alternatives. There could potentially even be a future ban on them in this country, but this is currently just speculation and wouldn’t happen for a long time, if at all.

Bathrooms

With bathrooms you need to be careful of excess dirt, hair, and soap clogging the bath or shower drain. If you have a lot of hair, you may want to invest in a cover to catch hairs.

For toilets, only flush items marked flushable. Non flushable wet wipes and even things like contact lenses can build up over time. And you don’t want to experience a toilet blockage.

Outside

Exterior drain care means checking your gutters as well as any drains on your property. Try to keep them clear of a build up of leaves. This is especially important in autumn and winter time.

If you notice damp spots in grass on non rainy days, it may be a sign you have a tree root problem. This means that tree roots have grown down into your pipe system underground.

You may need to call a professional who can use CCTV drain equipment to confirm and then deal with the problem.

Regular Check and Clean

With any of your drains, you should regularly check on them, and clean them using an unblocking solution. Boiling hot water poured from a kettle can also help in some instances, as it may dislodge blockages. It can also prevent pipes getting too cold in winter, where they are prone to freezing up and eventually bursting. Different temperatures and seasons bring different problems.

Final Thoughts

Changing habits and regular maintenance can go a long way to keeping your drains in good condition. But remember, if you are struggling with a blockage that you can’t fix, you can always call a professional drain unblocking expert.