Drains clean your sink, shower, and tub of standing wastewater, preventing mold and mildew. A clog in your drain can sour your morning showers and turn your day on its head.
Are you done with relying solely on Roto-Rooter and considering professional drain cleaning services? That’s great!
Don’t hesitate to call professionals for a drain cleaning service.
Grease may already be piling up, causing clogged drains. Remember, all drain lines and sewer lines are interlinked. One clog can warp the entire system and cause extensive damage to your plumbing system.
You can temporarily remedy a clogged drain quickly using a little Roto-Rooter. However, it may snowball fast.
If you are at the end of your line dealing with multiple clogged drains and other plumbing issues, it’s time to enlist professional help.
Do I Have to Hire a Professional Drain Cleaning Service?
You don’t have to hire a professional drain cleaning service whenever you have clogged kitchen drains. However, it would be best if you got to the root of the problem.
You shouldn’t be experiencing drain clogs all that often unless underlying issues need to be addressed.
Remember, taking food debris out of your kitchen sink drain or wet wipes from a clogged bathroom drain is one thing, but broken pipes cause problems that lead to clogging. You might mistake clogging or slow-moving drains as minor issues, endlessly purchasing and utilizing drain cleaners to “solve the problem.”
Professional plumbers will help you differentiate between minor drain clogs and those that stem from severe plumbing issues. Skilled plumbers may even spot the effects of improper plumbing installation and maintenance within minutes.
However, conducting your own diagnosis and forming conclusions may make you mistake one for the other. Opting for Do It Yourself solutions may cost you instead of reaching out to a professional plumber.
Read on to familiarize yourself with basic maintenance knowledge about your drains and the rest of your plumbing system.
Clogged Drains: Cause & Effect
A clogged drain creates a vicious cycle of causes and effects. Clogged bathroom drains may affect your kitchen sink drain and vice versa, making a clog both the cause and the effect.
The cause of clogged drains are somewhat common knowledge:
- Don’t throw or flush foreign objects down the drain or toilet.
- Don’t pour cooking oil or grease into the drain.
- Soak dinner or cookware heavily saturated with grease and food debris in hot water before washing.
- Ditch wastewater heavily polluted with particles outdoors (or in the trash) instead of drains.
- Refrain from ditching leftovers into the kitchen sink.
The effects aren’t as black and white as we all think. Clogs form in your drains, but their effects may lead down your sewer lines, creating a domino effect within your entire plumbing system.
Are DIY Clogged Drain Cleaning Techniques helpful?
Drain cleaning solutions such as Roto-Rooter may help flush down soap scum and smaller particles. However, using Roto-Rooter and other chemicals is only most effective within the drain you pour it.
It won’t help unclog all the drains in your home.
Harsher chemicals may also cause corrosion in your plumbing systems, turning one plumbing problem into plenty. Pipe damage is serious and often unseen until noticeable problems arise, such as flooding, clogs, unusual odors, and noises.
Professional drain cleaning services include thorough inspection, offering various video inspections of underground lines and pipes. A sewer camera inspection may help you uncover hidden causes behind chronic or prolonged clogging.
Hiring Drain Cleaning Services?
If you are already on board and want to get things underway, here are some things you can expect or do before hiring drain cleaning services.
What to Expect: BEFORE
You can’t just call a hotline and expect “Fix-It Felix” to waltz into your home. Professional drain cleaning isn’t as simple as snaking and Roto-Rooter.
There are many steps professionals take before going down your drains.
Inspection
Upon initial consultation, an inspector may arrive with other representatives. Inspectors use different tools and techniques to determine the extent of your clogs quickly.
They will roam around your house to inspect different drains, including ones outdoors.
Evaluation
These specialists help determine the source of the clog and how extensive its damage has progressed. Without professional knowledge and equipment, they may uncover drainage problems you may never have known.
Here’s a hint, a clog doesn’t just stem from food scraps.
Estimation
Plumbing experts may give you a free quote on the spot. However, they will provide you with a separate quote if more issues are uncovered than anticipated.
The most professional and reliable estimates will be categorized into at least three categories: cleaning, repairs, and preventive integrations.
Consultation
Upon receiving the estimates from plumbers and other specialists, you may sit with company representatives for guidance. Some offer free consultation services on-site or online to help you quickly determine procedures and benefits.
These sit-downs should bear no commitments and only open you up to different options.
Scheduling
Once you finalize your options, you can set a date for the professional drain cleaning services you enlist. If you opt for more than one service, you can fit them into one or schedule them on different days.
Haste makes waste! A reliable team of plumbers will advise you against fitting too much into one workday.
What to Expect: DURING
You made it! Your professional plumber or plumbers are en route. Here’s a list of what comes next.
Drain Cleaning Services & Procedure
You can expect more than drain snakes and Roto-Rooter.
Before beginning drain services, the foreman (head plumber) will declare the set of services you enlisted and walk you through the steps. During the initial briefing, the head plumber will declare the members of his team and the areas of your house they will work.
They will close-off areas in your house either with tape or mid-length fences. Securing zones is for your safety, protecting you from power tools, debris, and possible exposure to sewer gases.
Equipment & Handling
They may send hydro-jetting equipment down your drain lines to clear them of blockages effectively. A hydro-jetting tool uses high-pressure water to dislodge unshakeable clogs.
Water jetting may be loud and intimidating. However, they are safer for your pipes and more sustainable. Plumbing experts using hydro-jetting equipment on your drain lines is safer than you incessantly using industrial solvents to remedy clogs.
Using hydro-jetting on bathroom floor drains is a question of IF, but it is more of a WHEN with laundry drains. A hydro-jet can flush stubborn clogs out of your home through drains located the lowest on your home’s water table (A.K.A., basement, boiler, or laundry room).
Basement floor and laundry drains are likely directly linked to the main drain or sewer line and benefit from power-flushing more than any other drain in your house.
While these power tools are effective for floor drains, they aren’t typically used on roof drains to avoid causing property damage. If roof drain cleaning services are what you need, then you can expect more regular items like garden hoses and pipe brushes.
Experts may also use water jetting to clean drains upstairs. If your bathroom sink or bathtub drain experiences a major clog, you can also expect an electric drain cleaning machine to be utilized in that room.
Your shower drain isn’t prone to severe clogs unless large foreign objects fall into the pipes. A drain cleaner may be effective against these clogged drains. However, reliable drain cleaning services will include them on their list of things to do if they emit sewer gases.
Maintenance Tune-ups
On top of cleaning and water jetting different drains, plumbers may clean out tree roots from your main drain and sewer line. Although they are primarily part of sewer cleaning services, they may be part of your drain cleaning inclusions, especially if they are the root cause of a detrimental clog.
Using a Roto-Rooter and other care products on your pipes isn’t out of the question upon the completion of drain cleaning. Plumbers may pour gentle yet effective drain cleaners down your pipes to clear residue, preventing slow-moving drains and future clogs.
A clogged drain may reoccur without proper plumbing maintenance. Keep your drain clean by paying attention to what’s going in and out of your drains and pipes.
Remember, while solutions like Roto-Rooter are effective, they aren’t always the answer!
Repairs, Replacement, & Installation
Corrosion may stem from the constant use of the Roto-Rooter, and chipped particles may cause a clog. If your pipes are outdated, you should consider pipe repairs and replacement.
Corroded pipes are an extensive plumbing problem, and repiping can be a pain. However, they may end your inexplicable clog and slow drain concerns. It may save you from spending more on inefficient drain cleaners that may only worsen corrosion.
Listen to your plumber and their helpful maintenance tips. They will let you know whether your pipes are still salvageable or be the cause of costly damages.
What to Expect: AFTER
After thorough drain cleaning, you can expect clean, fast, and reliable draining. Fresh pipes may revamp your entire plumbing.
If your plumbing fixtures and drains were slow or stalling, they should be clog-free and drain quickly now. However, you may be entitled to a warranty if they aren’t up to par.
Call the number your plumber left you before packing up to enforce it.
Is There Anything I Need to Do Before Enlisting Professional Drain Cleaning Services?
If you have decided to hire drain cleaning services, follow the steps below to ensure a swift and stress-free service.
Get These Out of the Way
Access Points
Drain lines aren’t always easily accessible and may require different access points. Remember the places the inspector or plumber takes you during the walkthrough.
Remove potential obstacles from the drain and the path leading to it. (i.e., bathmats, sofas, chairs, etc.)
Finances
Don’t forget to prepare for the expenses. Ask about accepted payment methods and financial plans. Ask questions during estimations or consultations.
Some contractors offer payment plans, and you may be eligible.
Health & Safety Protocols
Provide sufficient ventilation. The workers may be in goggles, masks, or full hazmat suits, making breathing harder.
Open doors, windows, and ventilation systems to make it easier for your experts and to prevent chemicals from lingering in your home.
Who You Gonna Call…
If your drain is going glug, glug, glug and you’re tired of all the clog, clog, clog! We got the guys for you!
CLOG BUSTERS! Mac5 Services
Mac5 Services specializes in drain and sewer cleaning services! We have the latest equipment for drain cleaning, and our guys know how to use it safely and effectively.
While all our drain services (including drain inspection) are effective and thorough, we’ll help you find a drain service payment plan that suits you best.
Please book a consultation online, and don’t forget to ask about our sewer line services. We’ll help you get to the root of the problem today!
