| Nothing is more aggravating to most people than to | | | | Of course, you can also try one of the many liquid or |
| get out of bed and find a clogged bathroom sink | | | | gel drain cleaners available at most stores. I must say |
| drain first thing in the morning. Before you start | | | | that I haven't had a lot of success with these when I |
| screaming words that you really don't want the kids | | | | was fighting a completely clogged pipe. I find that, at |
| to hear, why not first find out if it's just the sink | | | | best, the results are minimal. |
| that's plugged, or if the problem is affecting the | | | | I will add, however, that some of these products are |
| other fixtures, as well? | | | | excellent at keeping drains open. we use one in each |
| Turn on the faucet in your bathtub and let it run a | | | | drain in our house about once a month, and rarely |
| few seconds. If it seems to be draining properly, | | | | have a clogging problem any more. |
| then the problem is likely confined to the sink drain. | | | | If neither of these solutions is successful, the only |
| If, however, the bathtub is also not draining, the | | | | other option available is to remove and clean the |
| problem may well lie in your main sewer pipes. | | | | drain pipes manually. In most cases, you're going to |
| For our purposes here, let's assume that the sink is | | | | find that the clog will be in the "drain trap" directly |
| the only fixture with the problem. In this case, you | | | | under the sink drain. This is the "U" shaped pipe that |
| have tree basic ways to clear the clog... | | | | connects the sink drain pipe to the main drain. |
| The fastest (and, easiest) method is with an old | | | | Basically, you're going to have to remove the trap |
| fashion plunger. This is something that everyone has | | | | and use some sort of tool to clean out the clog. I've |
| (or, should have), and will usually clear the problem up | | | | had good results using a wire coat hanger that has |
| quickly. | | | | been straightened out. |