Drain Maintenance Tips for Memphis Homeowners

1. Remove Trees: If your primary problem is overgrown tree roots from trees, you may need to remove some of the trees near your home that are causing the problem. When our technicians arrive on a drain clog call, one of the first things they check is how close the clog is to trees or their extensive root system. Homes with yards that are dotted with lovely old pines and oaks are often the homes most susceptible to reoccurring main line problems. Although we always regret being forced to remove a tree, it is often in the best interest of the homeowner. Most folks decide that they simply can’t afford to continually address their main line problems, only to have the problem reappear due to those pesky tress.
2. Limit what you put down your kitchen drain: This should be a no-brainer. Even though your garbage disposal may seem like it’s up to the task of eating just about anything, that doesn’t mean you should actually be putting anything and everything down your sink. Putting fibrous food items like onions, potato peels and celery down the drain is always a bad idea. Same goes for grease. In fact, when it comes to kitchen drain clogs, grease is probably public enemy number one. Even seemingly innocuous good items like grains of rice can swell with water and then clog your sink drain as they stick on to your pipe interiors. Having a small trash can near your sink is probably the best fix here. Instead of over-relying on the garbage disposal, dump leftover food in the trash instead!
3. Don’t put hair down the bathroom sink: Hair doesn’t disintegrate quickly, even with enyzmes, and it can quickly make a terrible tangled mess of your drain. Don’t take hair off your brush and put it down your sink or toilet. Put it in the trash, along with dentel floss any and other clog catcher. For even extra protection, use a plastic hair catcher on your shower drain and install a drain trap in your bathroom sink.
4. Use enzymes regularly: Perhaps the most useful thing you can do to discourage a reoccurring main line clog is to routinely use natural enyzme treatments like Bio-Clean. By regularly introducing these powerful, but safe enzymes into your pipes, you allow them to eat away at all the accumulated waste that causes blockages. This stuff really works—a little will go a long way toward keeping your main line flowing freely at all times. Because these enzymes need time to work their magic on your pipes, you should begin the treatment at night and then refrain from using those sinks and showers until the following morning. For maximum effect, do all the drains in the house at once.
5. Install a lint catcher: Equip the drain connected to your washing machine with one of these bad boys. This will stop extra lint from entering your drain and becoming the source of a nasty clog in the future as the lint accumulates.

We are your Memphis drain cleaning experts. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, we have the tools, training and experience to get the job done and get it done right the very first time! Call Stewart Plumbing today!