Your drains work hard every single day, handling everything from toothpaste and grease to soap scum and hair. Without regular drain cleaning, even the best plumbing system will eventually back up on you…
What You Need To Know Right Off The Bat
Here’s what I wish more homeowners knew about drain maintenance:
- Clean your drains before they get clogged. Waiting until water won’t go down is like changing your oil after your engine seizes up.
- Hot water is your best friend. Run it for 30 seconds after every use. Seriously, it prevents most problems.
- Skip the chemical drain cleaners. They’re harsh on your pipes and usually don’t work anyway.
How Often Should You Actually Clean Your Drains?
Here’s the thing—most people clean their drains never, until something goes wrong. Then it becomes an emergency. Don’t be most people.
- Kitchen sinks: Weekly if you cook a lot, every other week if you mostly order takeout
- Bathroom sinks: Once a month
- Shower drains: Every couple months
- Bathtub drains: Monthly
I know it sounds like a lot, but we’re talking about 5 minutes of work that prevents hours of dealing with backups and bad smells.
Warning Signs To Watch Out For
Any of these warning signs mean it’s time to clean, not next week, but this weekend.
- Water pools in the sink before draining
- Weird smells coming from the drain (especially that sour, rotting smell)
- Gurgling noises when water goes down
- Fruit flies hanging around your kitchen sink
- Water backing up even briefly
How To Clean a Sink Drain (The Right Way)
The Basic Weekly Clean
For this, you’ll need:
- Hot water (hottest your tap will go)
- Regular dish soap
- Maybe 3 minutes of your time
Step 1: Clear the obvious stuff
Pull out any food chunks, hair balls, or soap gunk you can see. Don’t push anything down the drain—that just makes it someone else’s problem later.
Step 2: Hot water flush
Run hot water for 30 seconds. This softens up grease and soap buildup.
Step 3: Soap treatment
Squirt a good amount of dish soap down there. Not a tiny drop—be generous. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes while you do something else.
Step 4: Final flush
More hot water for 30 seconds. Done.
The Special Case for Shower Drains
Shower drains deserve their own conversation because they’re dealing with a different set of challenges. If you’ve got anyone with long hair in your house, you already know what I’m talking about. Hair combines with soap and creates these lovely clumps that love to wrap around anything they can find in your pipes.
The drain cover usually lifts right off, but don’t force it if it seems stuck (that’s how you end up breaking something expensive) and once you’ve got it off, brace yourself for the gross part and pull out whatever hair situation has developed in there. 
Clean the cover itself with an old toothbrush, dish soap, and hot water. When you put everything back together, make sure the cover sits properly. A wobbly cover just lets more debris fall through.
How often you need to do this depends on your household. A family with teenagers might need to tackle it every six weeks, while adults with short hair might get away with every three months. If you’ve got someone with waist-length hair, monthly might not even be enough.
Here’s how often you should clean shower drains, broken down by household:
- Family of four with teenagers: Every 6 weeks
- Just adults with short hair: Every 3 months
- Someone with waist-length hair: Every month, maybe more
- Hard water: Every 6 weeks (mineral buildup is real)
The Bottom Line About Drain Problems
Sure, drain problems start small and get worse. But they’re also completely preventable if you stay on top of things. Start simple: hot water flushes after use, weekly cleaning for high-use drains, monthly deep cleaning for everything else. Pay attention when your drains start trying to tell you something’s wrong. And don’t be stubborn about calling for help when you feel over your limits.
Knowing When To Throw In the Towel
I’m all for DIY solutions when they make sense, but some drain problems need professional equipment and expertise. If multiple drains in your house are backing up at the same time, that’s usually a main line issue that’s way beyond what you can handle with baking soda and vinegar.
Sewage smells that won’t go away no matter what you try, water backing up into other fixtures, or the same drain repeatedly clogging despite regular cleaning — these are all signs that something bigger is going on. Trying to tackle these problems yourself usually just makes expensive issues even more expensive. Sometimes the smart move is knowing when you’re in over your head, and just calling the professionals.
Feeling drained? Don’t sink into despair. Call Maplewood Plumbing at 314-645-6350.
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