It can be annoying and smelly when your bathroom sink starts draining slowly. Often that’s caused by a buildup of hair and other debris between your drain and your p trap. That gunk constricts the water’s path down your pipe. Luckily, the solution is simpler than you might think.
Below you’ll find a list of instructions on how to clean your drain. We designed each step with the do-it-yourself homeowner in mind. But if you decide that it’s a bigger project than you’d like, any plumber should be able to help you out.
Tools Needed: a bucket, paper towels, a toothbrush, a pipe wrench (depending)
Take A Picture
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The first thing you’ll need to do is get your sink ready to work on. With that in mind, take a picture of your drain pipes. It will help you later on when you’re putting everything back together. You’ll also want to set a bucket underneath the drain pipes to catch any water or debris.
Step 1: Take Apart Your Fixture
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Once you have your set-up done, it’s time to take apart your drain. The connection points should be hand-tight, but you may need a pipe wrench to loosen them up. Once they’re loose, you’ll need to lower the p trap off the rest of the assembly. There’s probably going to be sludge buildup that you can already see.
Step 2: Remove Stopper
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Hair and gunk like to build up right where the stopper lever connects to the drain. That’s the next thing you’ll need to disconnect. You’ll do that by unscrewing the housing nut and sliding the stopper lever out. That will let you lift the stopper out from the sink. Make sure to check the stopper as well, since it can get covered in debris.
Step 3: Clean Drain
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Once you reach this step, check the pipe leading to your main drain system. You might find a layer of gunk that you can clean out with a paper towel. Then, check for buildup in the drainpipe. If you find a large amount, you can push another paper towel through it like a pipe cleaner. Do this into your bucket or the garbage so that you avoid clogging your kitchen sink.
Step 4: Clean Pipes
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Next you can take the pieces to the kitchen sink and clean them out with soap and water. A toothbrush can get inside the nooks and crannies to find the smaller pieces of debris. That way you can get your pipes as clean as possible.
Step 5: Put Stopper Back
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Once the pipes are clean, it’s time to reassemble. You’ll start by screwing the drain body back on to hand-tight. Make sure the stopper hole is facing the back, so that you can slide the lever back into the base of the stopper. Then screw the housing nut back in place and reattach the lever to the lift rod strap. Now you’re ready to move onto the rest of the pipes.
Step 6: Test Fit Pipes
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This is where your picture from earlier will come in handy. Loosely slide the pipe pieces together, so that you can shift and adjust them to a perfect fit.
Step 7: Tighten Connections
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Once everything is where it needs to be, tighten all the connections down. Hand-tight is all they need.
Step 8: Fill Sink with Water
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Now that you have your drain reassembled, set the stopper and fill the sink up with water. This is so that you can test for leaks in the next step.
Step 9: Test the Drain for Leaks
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Once the sink is full, pull the stopper and let the water drain. It should be draining much quicker than before. Check the connections and on the ground for any leaks or droplets. There shouldn’t be any puddles and everything should be dry and tight.
Once you’ve checked and there are no leaks, you should be good to go! If the drain is still slow, it may be time to call a plumber or a sink technician. That’s because the problem may be further down the drain system than you can reach. However, cleaning out the pipes will often solve the problem.
If this sounds like a bigger project than you want to tackle, Any Hour Services is happy to help. We have licensed plumbers that can come out and take care of it for you. You can book online or call to set up an appointment.
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