5 Common Causes of Blocked Drains and How to Prevent Them

Blocked drains are an inconvenience that can disrupt your daily life. They can cause the destruction of your home’s plumbing, unpleasant smells and even health hazards. If they are not addressed promptly, blocked drains can cause serious issues in the plumbing system, which can lead to costly fixes or replacings.
Key Takeaways
- Blockages to drains can cause disruption to your routine and can result in the destruction of your home, bad smells, and even health issues.
- Fat, oil and grease build-up can clog the walls of pipes causing blockages. Avoid pouring grease down the drain. Alternatively, use soap and hot water for cleaning dishes.
- Tree roots naturally grow into the soil to search for nutrients which may cause significant damages and blockages to pipes and cause flooding. It is important to regularly keep trees in the vicinity of drainage systems by trimming them.
- Flushing non-biodegradable items like wet wipes, towels, and so on. can create unpleasant smells emanating around toilets/bin areas; be sure to wash toilet papers down drain.
- Hair
In this post, we’ll explore five causes of blocked drains and what you can do to keep them from happening.
Cause 1. Grease, oil and Fat buildup
Fat, grease, and oil might appear to be harmless substances to dump down the drain but they can build up within the wall of the pipes, causing obstruction. If this happens, water is unable to move freely through the drainpipes. The solution is to avoid spilling grease in the drain, or utilize soap and hot water during cleaning dishes because it assists to remove greasy substances.
Cause 2: Tree Roots
As time passes, tree roots naturally extend themselves into the ground seeking nutrients. This leads to them expanding toward underground pipes. Once inside these pipes trees roots can cause a lot of damage and even stop them from flowing, causing flooding. Therefore, it is essential that if are near trees that you regularly maintain their growth around drainage systems, by trimming them in a regular manner.
Cause 3: Unwanted items
It’s not difficult to conclude that flushing items that aren’t biodegradable like toilet paper, wet wipes etc. won’t cause any significant problems in the long term, However, when a lot of these products are flushed down toilets they will resultantly build up, pushing other items aside and which can create unpleasant smells in the vicinity of toilets or bins! Make sure to remember what should be flushed, and what shouldn’t (i. e only toilet paper should be flushed out).
Cause 4 Cause 4: Hair
Additional Information
- Find the trusted plumber for your backed up drain emergency
- Clean Your Clogged Shower Drain the Green Way without Chemicals
- Examining Root Sources of Drain Clogs
- Keeping Costly Drain Repairs at Bay with Routine Inspections
- The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Relining: How to Select the Perfect Material
- Mastering Plumbing Remedies for Persistent Clogged Pipes
- The Benefits of CCTV Drain Inspections for Blocked Drains and Corroded Pipes
- DIY Drain Cleaning: How to Safely Tackle Clogged Drains
- The Benefits of CCTV Drain Inspections: How Often Should You Carry Them Out?
- Reasons Why CCTV Drain Inspection is a Must Before Purchasing a Property