Hair can be a huge problem when it comes to your plumbing. This is especially true if your household includes several people with long or thick hair. It is very common for shower and bathtub drains to become clogged with hair, and it takes less hair than you’d think to create an issue. When the drain starts to completely back up, it is likely that you will need to call in professional help. Fortunately, there are some ways you can avoid this with these simple maintenance tricks.

The first thing you want to try is to prevent the hair from going down the drain in the first place. There are hair-catching tools available. You can find these at most hardware stores. The most basic and commonly used ones fit right over your drain and catch hair in a wire mesh without impeding the flow of water. They are easy to remove and empty when they fill up with hair.

Unfortunately, prevention methods are not foolproof. One thing you can do is pour chlorine bleach down the drain at night. Pour one up-down, and then run warm water down the drain in the morning to dissipate the bleach smell. If pouring bleach down your drain is off-putting to you, boiling water might get you similar results. It is recommended to use water boiled on your stovetop over just using hot water from the shower tap.

Even with all of your precautionary measures, you may still end up with a hair clog. While there is no guarantee that it is hair, there are ways to clean it out without needing to call in a plumber. You can purchase a plastic hair snare, which is basically a strip of plastic with barbs on either side. The barbs help to catch hair clogs. All you need to do is snake one down your drain to remove the hair.

You can also try a mixture of baking soda, white vinegar, and boiling water. Preface the concoction by pouring a pot of boiling water down the drain. Follow that up with a half cup of baking soda. Pour a half and half mixture of hot water and vinegar down next and stopper up the drain for around five minutes. This will cause a reaction that should loosen up any clogs. Think of it like those foaming volcanos you made for science class! This will be less damaging to your plumbing than chemical drain cleaners.

Sometimes, stubborn clogs will persist despite your best efforts. If you’ve tried all of these and your drain is still clogged, Express Plumbing Heating & Air is here to help. Give us a call today to get your drains moving again!

Express Plumbing Heating & Air

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