How to Clear a Clogged Sink: Mississauga Plumbers Have the Answers

From rinsing produce to brushing your teeth, your kitchen and bathroom sink drains are among the most used areas in your home. It’s imperative that your plumbing works properly so that you can complete daily tasks and chores without any hassle. Without consistent cleaning maintenance in your bathroom or kitchen, it’s not uncommon to experience pipe blockages at home in Mississauga. Clogged sink issues happen even if you use sink strainers. You might expect nothing to seep through, like food scraps, coffee grinds, grease, or fat. Eventually, debris accumulates and causes a nuisance of a clogged sink. Every home’s plumbing fixtures are connected to drain lines, sending wastewater down to the sewer line to prevent infection and disease. Even with maintenance, you still can’t help but worry about your plumbing systems. Clogged sinks could have many causes, from trapped hair to a faulty garburator to tree root intrusion underground or a collapsed pipe. It’s impossible to avoid all of them.

The good news is you can rely on your Mississauga plumber from Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga to get down to the root cause of blockages as well as bring preventative solutions that can help keep you and your property safe from harm. We have the tools necessary to investigate the warning signs you experience and provide you with a fast and thorough diagnosis for clogs.

Mississauga: Clogged Sink Causes You Should Know

If you ever experience standing water because of a clogged drain, it’s certainly an unpleasant sight. However, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the cause, especially if you’re using preventative measures. Some of us merely trust the screwed-in sink stopper that catches hair or clunky food waste. But it never hurts to take additional safety measures like installing a sink strainer that you can easily lift and empty in the garbage or compost. As gravity pulls the water downward, you can’t always be certain that no hair or food waste will slip through.

These are the most common causes of stubborn clogs that build up over time:

• Soap scum
• Solidified fat, oil, and grease (FOG)
• Food waste
• Clogged garburators (garbage disposals)
• Hair

Other more serious causes of drain line clogs are related to sewer line clogs or damage, including issues like:

• Tree roots infiltrating underground pipes
• Cracked, corroded or collapsed pipes
• The severe buildup of toilet paper, wet wipes, or tissues
• Shifting soil
• Blockages from other foreign objects

How To Clear a Clogged Sink: A Mississauga Homeowner’s Guide

Several DIY strategies work wonders for clearing a clogged sink and are safe to practice before dealing with the worst-case scenario, so you don’t have to stand around wondering how to clear a clogged drain with standing water and can get straight to work dealing with your clogged sink. We recommend that you try environmentally friendly methods before turning to any chemical drain cleaners that are highly corrosive and damaging to the pipes.

If you’re not comfortable trying to clear sink blockage on your own, or your attempts seem to be doing nothing, contact your local plumber. We’ll help unblock your pipes in no time! But if you are ready to learn a few simple DIY tips and tricks to get rid of your pesky blockages in Mississauga, keep reading.

1. First, Remove Standing Water

Is your sink close to overflowing? Before you start working on a blocked sink, it’s important to remove that excess water by following these steps:

• Put on rubber gloves to protect your hands from dirty water or sharp objects.
• Use a jug, cup, or bowl and carefully remove water from the sink. Flush it down a toilet or pour it down a different sink. If there are food particles or other debris in the standing water, put a basket catch over any drain you pour it into. This prevents forming another clog.

Note: If you can remove the sink stopper, please do so.

2. Plunge Away!

Plungers are normally everyone’s first go-to option. Keep in mind that if you have a double sink, you must make sure you use a tight seal, like a drain cover, to block the side you are not plunging. If you don’t, the dirty water in one half of your sink will be pushed into the other side.

• First, it’s important to choose the right plunger. There are three kinds: flat-bottom sink plungers, toilet plungers and accordion plungers. Choose a flat-bottom plunger when plunging a sink, as it’s capable of forming a seal around a flat drain such as the ones in a sink, shower or bathtub.
• Ensure there’s about one inch of water in the sink to improve the plunger’s suction.
• Plunge a few times, starting gently and then getting more forceful.
• Test by running some water into your sink and seeing if it drains.
• If it’s still clogged, repeat the process three more times and fill up a kettle of water. Once boiling, pour it down the sink. Take great care not to scald yourself—if you’re not sure you can manage it safely, skip this step.

Note: We do not recommend boiling liquid if you have PEX or PVC pipes or seals, as it could melt your pipes and even cause a more serious clog.

3. Use Boiling Water

This solution is only applicable to metal pipes in Mississauga (iron, copper, galvanized steel). If the clog is not too severe, you might be able to dislodge it with hot water. This technique works for shower drains, as well as bathroom and kitchen sinks. Fill up a kettle or pot with water. Bring it to a boil and pour it down the drain. Repeat two to three times. It’s important to use hot water, not warm water, so any hardened grease or soap scum will melt and get removed.

As we mentioned above, this method can be dangerous because it’s easy to trip or stumble between the stove and the sink and end up scalding yourself with the hot water. Go slow and pour carefully, and avoid this method if you’re not sure you can get it done without injury.

Note: While this is useful to treat clogged sink issues, it’s not recommended to treat stubborn clogs that are further down the pipe. If you suspect a more serious problem, call a plumber who will inspect your pipe and remove the blockage with advanced equipment like the HydroScrub® jetting technology used by Mr. Rooter Plumbing.

4. The Baking Soda and White Vinegar Trick

This is a non-invasive method for dislodging stubborn clogs in Mississauga without reaching for a plunger or drain snake—mix baking soda and white vinegar. This is a natural alternative to toxic chemicals. As a bonus, it works wonders to relieve stains and grime in your sink basin. The chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar typically works better for cleaning, but it can sometimes dislodge debris. Simply mix one cup of vinegar and one cup of baking soda and pour them down. Use a drain cover to force the reaction through the pipe. You can flush with boiling water after to ensure residual debris is washed away.

6. Clean the P-Trap

Also known as a drain trap, a P-trap is a curved section of pipe below your sinks that looks like a “U” or the top portion of a “P” (hence the name). Its primary purpose is to stop harmful sewer gasses from seeping into your home, but it also prevents debris and jewelry from falling into your plumbing system. Needless to say, it can get clogged from time to time. There’s no fast way to clear out a full P-trap. It has to be cleaned by hand.

Follow these steps:

• Put a bucket underneath to catch any dirty water or debris.
• Remove any screws holding the P-trap to the wall.
• Take out the P-trap and see if it’s clogged.
• Clean out any debris.
• Reattach the p-trap and tighten the coupling nuts properly.

If you’re unable to complete this process yourself—or you just don’t want to see, smell or touch anything that might be lurking in your P-trap—this is something your reliable plumber can take care of on your behalf to clear a clogged bathroom sink.

6. Check the Garburator

If there’s an issue with your kitchen drains, it could be that your garbage collector (garbage disposal) is blocked. To avoid clogging it, don’t put too many scraps down it at once. Also, certain types of food scraps should never go in the garburator. Follow these steps to clear any blockages:

• Turn off your device—do not put your hand down until it has been switched off.
• Use a flashlight to look down the pipe.
• If the block is due to food, you can use pliers to remove excess waste or manually turn your garburator blades using an Allen key.
• If you have a clogged sink in Mississauga because a piece of jewelry is trapped in the garburator, you should call our expert Mississauga plumbers.
• If you can’t reach the clog, try using a plunger. Clamp your dishwasher’s drain line before plunging to prevent dirty water from being pushed into it.
• Run hot tap water down the garburator to help remove any residual debris— never use chemical cleaners!

An in-sink garburator is a handy tool to help clear away small scraps of produce and some other types of scraps, but there are also a number of things you should not put into your garbage disposal. Fatty meats and greasy fried foods are at the top of the list, but it’s also really important to avoid anything that can be ground into a sand-like texture. Eggshells are doubly bad because the hard part of the shell can turn into sand, and the membrane that lines the shell is surprisingly strong. It can become tangled around the blades of the garburator to the point where the mechanism is completely busted.

7. Using a Plumber’s Snake or Wire Coat Hanger

Typically, using a plumber’s snake is your last option for clearing out clogged sinks. Homeowners tend to call a professional plumber for help with this because they have yet to get a snake or aren’t sure how to use one.

Drain snakes look like a coiled, metal rope with a crank on one side. The coil is inserted into the drain. As you crank the handle, it pulls up the coil and brings any debris with it. A makeshift option includes using metal hangers that have been straightened out as alternatives to snakes. For those DIY attempts, complete these steps:

• Bend the hanger into shape: flatten it into a straight line, adding a hook at one end.
• Insert it into the pipe and fish around until you make contact with the clog.
• Once you feel debris at the end of the wire, pull it up. You may have to repeat this process a few times to get all the gunk out.
• Once you have removed as much of the blockage as possible, pour hot water down the sink to get rid of any remaining debris.

Mississauga & Clogged Sinks: Here Are Some Prevention Tips!

Cleaning around your sink or any surface areas may be as second nature to you as scrubbing the toilet, but how often do you unscrew the stopper and investigate the opening beneath? If your answer is every month, you have exceptionally good cleaning habits! But it’s still possible that you have a serious clog deeper in your system that needs service from a professional. When that professional service is done, you will likely receive some useful prevention tips that will help maintain your plumbing system. Clogged drains will be history if you follow the advice of a plumber!

• Clean Sink Stopper: You might naturally clean the sink strainer, but cleaning the stopper will require a little more elbow grease. Depending on the kind of stopper you have (e.g., push and pull, lift and turn, or toe-touch), you may require a screwdriver, Allen wrench, or pairs of needle-nose pliers and channel-lock pliers to remove it.
• Drain Scrubbing: Take a look at your drain opening. Does it look nasty? The sludge buildup is a mix of soap residue and calcium deposits from hard water in Mississauga. Most plumbers recommend creating a cleaning mixture by combining peroxide with baking soda and using an old toothbrush to remove debris around the opening.
• Compost Food Scraps: Our tip is not to chuck food waste down your garburator but throw it into your compost or garbage instead, especially for larger chunks.
• No Grease: Don’t pour grease down the sink, as it can damage and block your drainage pipes faster than you think—and it can also affect the public sewer systems in Mississauga. Instead, pour it into a can or another container and let it solidify overnight before throwing it out.

Mississauga Drain Cleaning Services

If you’ve tried everything and your kitchen or bathroom sink is clogged anyway, it’s time to call in the heavy hitters at Mr. Rooter Plumbing. Your sewer lines are responsible for removing liquid waste from your home, but debris and other dirt will still accumulate over time and create blockages that affect your pipes, starting with clogged sinks. Homes that have recurring sink clogs, sewer gas smells, and toilet backups might be facing signs of a serious drain clog that could lead to major issues in the future when neglected.

The best way to keep them spotless is to schedule routine drain cleaning service with your local plumber at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga. This is the best way to prevent the worst-case scenario for clogs, including those sewer backups that make clogged sinks a minor concern. If you haven’t called us for drain cleaning service before, your plumber will carry out a plumbing diagnosis and inspection of your drain lines to ensure they are in great condition and can handle the equipment we use for drain cleaning. While already in-house, our professional plumbers are happy to inspect and help unclog any other sinks or offer advice on how to clear a clogged drain with standing water.

No More Slow Drains in Mississauga! Clogged Sink Services Are Available from Mr. Rooter Plumbing!

If you’ve tried getting rid of a clog on your own, or don’t have time to deal with a problematic drain, call Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga. We proudly serve many communities throughout Mississauga, such as Applewood, Mineola, and Port Credit. Our award-winning team of plumbers is committed to providing outstanding workmanship and reliable, genuine customer service to each and every one of our clients.

To book an appointment for drain repair, other types of clogged drain service, or even an emergency plumbing inspection in Mississauga, we invite you to give us a call. Our team is looking forward to meeting you and solving your plumbing issue fast and effectively, promoting healthier pipes and a better living environment for your home in Mississauga.