A Guide to Clearing Sinks and Drains
Many home insurance claims are the result of insurance claims internal damage to property as a result of leaking baths, showers and blocked drains. Water and no longer drain away when waste pipes from basins, sinks and baths become blocked from food, and hair and other debris. Accidental water damage can be extremely costly to repair where new carpets, decorations and soft furnishings need replacing and installing. A simple household accident and easily be avoided with sensible regular maintenance and household repairs.
When sinks become blocked a rubber basin plunger can be used to clear the blockage using simple water pressure. This creates an airtight seal around the plug area and allows air to be forced through the pipe to push through the blockage due to the increased at pressure surrounding the blockage. Likewise a sink auger is a cable made of steel (a bit like part of a coat hanger) designed to pass through the water outlets and then turned around inside the pipe to dislodge blockages. This will allow blockages caught in bendy pipes round corners to be dislodged. Debris caught up in the waste u-bend under sinks ever be removed by unscrewing the trap and manually removing the blockage. To prevent blockages building up in the first place place pour some washing soda or salt with boiling water down the sink on a regular basis to remove grease and to build up.
For blocked toilets there are also larger sink plunger tools which use the same principle as the sink auger. This can be pushed up and down into the toilet water level to force through a pockets into the blocked toilet. If an outside rain is blocked sewage can be forced out into internal toilets and cause a messy problem. To rectify this a larger augur or drain rods can be used to clear the underground drain. You will first have to remove the manhole inspection cover for your main soil pipe. To identify where the blockage is occurring it may be necessary to open a number of inspection chambers to see how far back the blockage goes. As well as drain rod plunges you may need a worm screw extension to grab hold of the obstruction as it will probably be out of view from the surface.
Commercial drain clearance companies provide call-out services for this type of activity and have specialist equipment and powerful jet blasting women to remove the blockage very quickly. For tenants of rental properties blocked sinks and trains can become a problem overtime where regular maintenance by the landlord or insufficient care by the tenants has caused a recurring problem. Many new property developments on modern states have been built with a shared main drain interconnecting a row of houses. One flows from the other until it joins the main sewage pipe in the road. Here there may be confusion as to which property/ owner or tenant is responsible for paying for drain clearing services as it literally becomes a share problem.
Assetsure provides UK flat insurance and home insurance for buildings and contents for homeowners in the United Kingdom.
