5 Drain Cleaning Tips For Taking Care Of Your Drains | New Orleans, LA

11/15/2020

Photo By Thanaphat Somwangsakul at Shutterstock

Owning a home means it’s your responsibility to take care of things like the plumbing and electrical systems. As difficult as that may sound, a little bit of effort and knowledge goes a long way when it comes to keeping the drains in your New Orleans, LA, home in good shape. Plus, making sure the drains in your home don’t get clogged is important because drain clogs can lead to major problems. If you want to avoid having to pay for a drain cleaning service, here are some tips.

1. Drain Cleaners

Perhaps the most important tip for taking care of your drains is making sure you’re using the right drain cleaner. It’s not so much about finding a cleaner that removes clogs as it is about finding one that doesn’t cause damage. While Drano is one of the most popular options when it comes to residential drain cleaning, there are some serious problems with using it. The reaction that Drano creates results in a lot of heat, which can corrode and damage pipes. This is an especially big problem if you have old corroded pipes that are already on their way out.

You can prevent the problems that come with certain drain cleaners by using the right one. Drain cleaning products that use enzymes to eat away at organic matter are the best way to remove clogs without causing any damage to the pipes. Because these drain cleaners are safe to use, you can use them regularly to help knock out small clogs and keep the walls of your pipes clean. This is a great first step to preventing clogs that can lead to expensive plumbing service calls.

2. Avoiding Clogs

Chances are you’ve heard a thing or two about what tends to clog drains and what you should never put down the drain. Whether you’re talking about your bathroom, kitchen or a laundry sink, it’s important to be careful about what you’re putting down the drain if you don’t want to spend a fortune on drain services.

As far as the bathroom goes, you should install drain catches in the sink and shower to prevent hair and soap from gumming up your drains. Additionally, make sure you aren’t flushing anything other than toilet paper and bodily waste, as things like flushable wipes and cotton swabs are known to cause clogs.

As tempting as it may be, don’t put too much food down the garbage disposal. The more you put down the disposal, the more likely you are to have a clog that ends with you having to call a drain company that offers cleaning.

3. Drain Leaks

Whether a drain pipe is damaged by an object that goes down it, a harsh drain cleaner or it’s simply old, a drain leak can be a big problem in your home. You can prevent drain leaks by having a drain cleaning expert take a look at your drain pipes occasionally to help you keep them clean and make sure they’re in good shape.

The problem with drain leaks is that they can release a lot of dirty water into your home, plus they can cause water damage like any leak. This is why it’s important to call a plumber if you think you might have any sort of drain leak, especially one that’s spewing water into your New Orleans, LA, home. By shutting the water off and getting the drain pipes replaced quickly, you can avoid severe water damage that costs a lot more to fix.

4. Tree Roots

A little deeper down in your drain pipes, there’s a problem that you really don’t want to deal with: tree roots. If your sewer line is leaking any waste water at all, the roots of nearby trees are going to detect that and attempt to grow toward the waste water for nutrients. Eventually, these roots will find their way into pipes, causing more cracks that lead to more leaks and clogging up your sewer line.

The good news about tree roots is that a drain cleaning company can take care of them pretty easily. If you’ve got a clog that’s affecting all the drains in your home, have somebody inspect your lines. A drain company can also clean all the roots out of your sewer line and add things to the pipe to attempt to kill and prevent roots in the future.

5. Drain Cleaning

At the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do to keep your drains in perfect shape all the time. As a homeowner, you shouldn’t be using snakes or augers to try to manually remove clogs, nor should you be taking apart any pipes. The best thing to do is have a drain cleaning company clean your drains out once in a while to remove what could turn into major clogs in the future. This is a fairly straightforward, simple and affordable process, and you should have it done at least once every year if you want to keep your drains in the best shape possible.

While spending money on professional help may seem tough, it’s nothing compared to what you could end up spending if you have a bad drain leak or sewage backup in your home.

Give Us a Call

Your home is one of the most important things in your life, so you have to take good care of it. With a little expert help, you can make sure your plumbing system works as intended for as long as possible and prevent expensive plumbing problems.

When you need a premium plumber in the area, the easiest thing to do is call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of New Orleans. From drain cleaning to replacing pipes and even new construction, we do it all. Give bluefrog a call at 504-457-7204 to schedule a drain cleaning today.