When it comes to unpleasant inconveniences at home or work, it doesn’t get much bigger than dealing with a blocked drain. Not only can blocked drains lead to poorly draining sinks and cause pungent smells around the home or office, they are sometimes very costly to fix.
To help remove the inconvenience of blocked drains, we’re going to run through some of their common causes so you know what to do to reduce the chances of a blockage.
Foreign Objects
One of the more straightforward sources of blocked drains is physical blockages from objects that you drop down the sink or shower. Cotton buds, drinking straws and food scraps are items that commonly cause a blockage. Use of sink strainers in the kitchen can be helpful.
Children have a fascination with drains. They love to push sticks, stones and toys down drains, particularly overflow drains which are outside the house. So it is really important to discourage them from doing this however fun it might be.
Plants and Trees
Although your drain pipes are buried under the ground they don’t remain completely still. Over time the drains may crack due to ground movement caused by the surrounding soil expanding and contracting when the moisture content changes. These cracks give plants and surrounding tree roots the opportunity to invade your pipes as the roots seek out water. If you have older pipes made of clay they may be particularly vulnerable to root intrusion.
When you’re planting trees, try to avoid putting them directly over piping, and try and look for shallow rooted plants that don’t grow too far into the ground.
Grease and Fat
Sometimes we put things down our drains, not wondering about potential consequences and grease and fat are prime offenders here. While the leftovers from our cooking might look liquid now, they can solidify in our pipes, coating them until they lead to blocked drains.
To get rid of small amounts of grease, wipe it up in a paper towel and throw it in the bin. For larger quantities, you can place the solid remains in a tin or jar and throw that away.
Hair
Did you know that each of us lose around 100 strands of hair per day? While that shouldn’t be alarming for our head – it averages up to 150,000 strands – it can cause a hairy issue for our plumbing.
Most of us lose hair while we’re washing in the shower, and a build-up of this around our drains can cause major blockages. While cleaning out your shower drains might not be the most pleasant activity, to avoid this complication it needs to be done.
Those are just some of the common causes of blocked drains that people experience every day. If you live around Brisbane and you need fast and effective blocked drain solutions, contact the professional plumbers at Jason’s Plumbing. For commercial, industrial sites, we have the solutions that restore convenience to your world.
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