DIY Drain Cleaning vs Professional Drain Cleaning Service | New Orleans, LA
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No one wants to deal with a messy drain backup. Whether it is your kitchen sink or it is your basement floor drain, dealing with human wastes and random debris is not the DIY home project that anyone plans for. Regardless, at some point, you will have to deal with the backup and the mess that it causes. The question at this point is whether you will hire a professional drain cleaning service or attempt to handle it on your own.
DIY culture is very big right now, so we frequently see New Orleans, LA homeowners attempt to handle their own clogs on their own. However, what we also see is an even bigger mess that doesn’t always result in a smooth running drain. The problem is that most clogs are more complex than just a pile of debris. This is even more true when you are dealing with sewer clogs or floor drain clogs. Some clogs are not always associated with the drains where you see the clog. That is just the tip of the iceberg and it’s why we recommend that all clogs be inspected and fixed by a drain service regardless of where they are in your home.
Attempting to fix a clog on your own involves a lot of potential issues. To start, if you attempt to fix it on your own and it doesn’t work you may have caused more damage and a bigger mess and still have to pay a drain cleaning service. Second, you may not actually solve the problem which means once the mess is gone, your drain might clog up again the next day. This happens more often than you think. Third, it’s just not something most homeowners want to deal with, and that’s fine, which is why we offer drain cleaning services to take care of the issue for you. Here are a few more things to think about if you are weighing calling for drain cleaning or troubleshooting on your own.
Chemical Drain Cleaners Will Destroy Your Home Plumbing
The number one thing that homeowners do when they think that they can handle drain issues on their own is buying chemical drain cleaners from hardware stores. These solutions are often advertised as strong enough to clear any blockage or debris from pipes. That statement is likely true, but it is also the reason why you never want to substitute a true drain cleaning service for chemical drain cleaners.
The problem with chemical drain cleaners is that they are so strong they eat away at everything in their pipe, and that includes the actual lining of your pipes. If you have repeated clogs and continue to pour the solution down your drains it will lead to premature corrosion on the sides of your pipes and sewer lines and eventually cause a split, crack, or break. At this point, you stand to lose a lot more than the cost of a drain cleaning service. The simple truth is chemical drain cleaners are never the solution.
Clogs Are Not Always Obvious
Your kitchen sink starts overflowing, so you automatically assume that the sink must have a clog in it. When you flush the toilet it seems like the issue gets worse. It is easy to think at this point that something in the sink drain is causing the clog, but actually, it may be something in your main water line. What is actually probably happening here is that there is a clog under the sink and the water from the toilet flush is getting pushed back up in the sink which is between the clog and the toilet. A lot of people will mistakenly attempt to clean out the toilet or the sink- but a drain cleaning service can sort out the fact that it’s neither.
That is the problem with sewer clogs, the problem is not always as obvious as it should be. In these situations, you can cause a real mess attempting to clean out drains that have nothing to do with your actual clog. Not only will your home end up covered in sewage, but your bathroom will be inoperational along with your kitchen or any other areas that are clogging up. Calling a drain cleaning service is simply the best way to get your home back in working order once and for all.
Clogs Usually Contain Hazardous Materials
Clogs usually have hazardous materials within them, and at the very least contain a lot of biohazards. Let’s face it, no one enjoys working with poop. Not even the drain cleaning service, but they have perfected the best way to troubleshoot issues with minimal contact with sewage wastes. You on the other hand have not. The last thing you want to do is spend prolonged periods of time around wastes and make the situation you are already dealing with worse.
For instance, if your floor drain is overflowing and you cause more water to back up you may have larger flooding issues and damage more of your property than what has already been affected. A professional drain cleaning service works on the principle of containment and can help prevent more damage from occurring. Given the high cost of property damage and flood repair, this is a vital component to solving any major backup issue in your home. Keep in mind that flooding risks are risks in every area of your home with a clogged fixture or drain, not just the basement.
Do you think it’s time for a professional to look at your drains in your New Orleans, LA home? Call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of New Orleans today to set up your appointment.
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