Why should you add a professional drain service to your spring cleaning routine? If you're new to drain maintenance, take a look at why you should make it part of your annual deep clean.
Spring-Time Clogs
Drains clog for a variety of reasons. From decades of wear and tear to what you put down the sink or flush through the toilet, your home's plumbing system will back up without the proper cleaning. While spring itself isn't a clog causer, some of the top seasonal activities can increase the risk for this type of plumbing problem.
In an ideal world, you'd never put anything down the drain that doesn't belong there. But this doesn't always happen. In the spring, some of the most common causes of clogs include:
- Grass clippings and yard waste. Now that the weather is warmer, landscaping is a top priority. Plant debris and grass clippings (even if the clippings are only on your hands) should never go down the sink's drain. These can bind together and cause a major clog.
- Mud. The spring showers turned your yard into a muddy play arena. After the kids and your pets track the muck inside, you wash the wet dirt off in the utility or bathroom sink. The mud and anything that's stuck in it (such as twigs) can clog your drains.
- Eggshells. The shells from your Easter egg activity don't belong in the kitchen sink. These can damage a garbage disposal and eventually cause a clog.
- Fruit peels.
The fresh spring fruit salad you've made to celebrate the season doesn't have to clog your drains — but it can. Never put fruit peels or rinds down the sink's drain or into the garbage disposal.
If your home already has a clog or your plumbing system is slow to drain, now is the perfect time for annual maintenance. But that doesn't mean you should freely force these, and other clog causers, into the pipes. Continue to avoid commonly known cloggers and keep your drains mud, dirt, and debris free.
Spring Annual Maintenance
How often should you clean your drains? Even though you make take steps to prevent clogs, over time buildup can significantly slow your plumbing system. Provided you don't have a backup or a serious and sudden clog, annual maintenance should keep your system flowing smoothly.
You can schedule this service any time of the year — summer, fall, winter, or spring. But you should choose spring if:
- You typically spring clean your home.
If you have an annual deep cleaning day or week, add a draining maintenance service to the list.
- You forget about your plumbing system. Drains are easy to forget about — especially if they don't have obvious problems. Spring can be a seasonal marker to remind you to clean your drains.
- You had winter-time plumbing problems. Did your pipes freeze in the winter cold? Now that you've paid for repairs or replacements, keep your pipes in top shape with this annual cleaning.
- You had excessive plant-growth in your yard. Tree roots can infiltrate main drain lines buried in your yard and cause backups. While cleaning won't remove the roots, the professional inspection can spot this plumbing problem.
Even though there are plenty of do-it-yourself drain cleaning methods available online, a spring clean is something you need a professional for. DIY drain cleaning chemicals can cause corrosion and self-snake methods may not completely remove the clog. Save time, and possible money, with a professional spring drain cleaning.
