It’s Time to Have Your Drains Professionally Cleaned

This image shows a person using a plumbing snake to unclog a shower drain, with visible dirt and staining around the shower floor and drain area.

It’s Time to Have Your Drains Professionally Cleaned

Minor clogs in your home plumbing can often be addressed with a simple plunger, and some homeowners attempt to clean their pipes with home drain cleaning chemicals—but sooner or later, you may run into a clog so nasty you have to call in the pros.

Actually, it’s smart to have your drains professionally cleaned at the first sign of trouble, because it can help prevent the problem from spiraling out of control—getting bigger, more aggressive, and costlier to fix.

The question is, what are those signs of trouble? There are a few particularly common ones:

Slow drains. When you have your faucet running, the water in the sink or basin should go down the drain more or less immediately; it shouldn’t pool—unless you have the drain closed intentionally—and it shouldn’t drain too slowly. If you have a slow drain, there is likely a problem somewhere along the line, something that could turn into a more serious problem as pressure builds. Better to have this looked at immediately!
Recurring clogs. If you find yourself cleaning hair our of a shower drain once, well, that’s to be expected. If you find yourself needing to clean a drain every week or two, though, then the problem may be bigger than you think. Clogs can happen, but they’re not supposed to recur that often!
Multiple clogs. If you find that one of your toilets is clogged—well, again: That happens. It’s a part of homeownership. If you have three toilets that all become clogged at the same time, though, then the issue probably isn’t with your toilets, but rather with the plumbing lines, a bit farther down.
Flooding. Of all the warning signs listed here, this one is surely the most obvious! The end result of a clogged drain is sewage backup—and if you see signs of that anywhere, especially near basement or floor drains, then you have a problem!
Bad odors. Finally, and also pretty obviously: If your drains or toilets always seem like they smell foul—like sewage—then the problem is probably a clog somewhere down the line.

For any of these issues, make sure you call a professional plumber. It’s imperative to address the problem as early as possible—hopefully resolving it before you have sewage backup in your home!