The call we get most
Clogged sinks
Kitchen sinks and bathroom sinks look like the same problem and almost never are. One clogs on grease, the other on hair, and they fail in different places.
A kitchen sink clogs on grease. Every time warm fat or cooking liquid goes down, it travels a few feet, cools, and sticks to the pipe wall. Years of that becomes a hard layer that keeps narrowing the pipe until it finally closes, which is why kitchen sinks get slower for months rather than stopping suddenly. Coffee grounds, rice and pasta make it worse because the grease gives them something to hold onto.
A bathroom sink clogs on hair, close to the surface. It catches on the pop-up stopper and the pivot rod behind it, and soap and toothpaste bind it into a mat sitting right in the trap. It is unpleasant to look at and it is rarely serious.
Warning signs
- Water pooling around the strainer before clearing
- A gurgle from the other basin of a double sink
- A sour smell that returns a day after cleaning
- The dishwasher leaving standing water
- One basin full while the other drains fine
Try this first
- Pull the bathroom pop-up stopper straight up and look at the rod
- Wipe it clean and reseat it, then test
- For a kitchen sink, stop putting grease down it today
- If one basin drains and one does not, the blockage is at the tee
Please do not
Pour chemical opener into a basin of standing water. It cannot reach the blockage, it sits against the pipe wall where it does damage, and it means we have to neutralize and remove that water before we can start. If you already have, just tell us so we bring the right gloves.
Straight answers
Questions about clogged sinks
Why does only one side of my double sink back up?
If one basin holds water and the other drains, the blockage sits between them, usually at the tee or in the trap arm. If both hold water, it is past the point where they join and further into the wall.
My kitchen sink keeps clogging every few months. Why?
Because it is being cabled rather than jetted. Cabling bores a channel through the grease and leaves the coating on the pipe wall, so it starts closing again immediately. Jetting scours the wall back to full diameter and the interval becomes years instead of months.
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