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Most American homeowners decry water damage as one of the biggest threats to their households. In 2017 alone, insurance companies reportedly dished out approximately 13 billion dollars in repairing water-damaged buildings.
Water damage may arise due to a wide variety of reasons, but the most common one is plumbing problems, which include drain blockages, pipe leaks, and running toilets. Your home’s drainage system plays a vital role in ensuring that the plumbing infrastructure functions optimally.
When neglected, clogs may form and it’s only a matter of time before the other aforementioned problems begin to develop. That’s why you should strive to schedule a drain cleaning service in Mansfield, TX to avoid expensive plumbing repairs in the future.
Besides helping you avoid costly plumbing repairs, drain cleaning speeds up the rate at which wastewater from your home’s kitchen and bathroom appliances trickles down into the sewer system while leaving your household. Additionally, hiring a professional drain cleaning provider near Mansfield, TX can help protect your home from water damage, which too can be quite expensive to remedy.
For instance, if water accidentally overflows from the kitchen sink, the water may eventually spread out and seep into your home’s floors and walls. It may infiltrate the tiles and floorboards, damaging them as the water continues to accumulate, as well as any wooden components within your household, causing them to rot even faster.
With adequate insight on the benefits of regular drain cleaning, read on to keep abreast of a few things homeowners should have in mind regarding this service.
Common Areas That May Require a Frequent Drain Cleaning Service
There are many ways your day could go wrong, but nothing compares to waking up to a clogged pipe or drain. Drain cleaning service professionals in Mansfield, TX, and beyond come across wide-ranging types of plumbing problems in their line of work, from simple shower or kitchen drain clogs to full-blown sewer backups, which can be quite a horrific sight. However, most of them consider kitchen sink, shower drain, and toilet clogs as the main types of drain blockages.
Kitchen sink drain blockages often arise from overusing the kitchen sink or the garbage disposal system. Such clogs usually develop as a result of pouring various types of food remnants down the drain. These foods include cooking oil, grease, or fat as well as poultry skins, starch peelings, grains, stringy vegetables, and citrus fruits. Kitchen sink drain problems may also arise if you’re used to discarding fibrous materials such as coffee grinds and corn husks down the drain.
Additionally, small kitchen appliances accidentally finding their way into the drain may result in kitchen sink clogs. However, when called upon, a trained drain cleaning service technician near you can help inspect the tightly knit kitchen sink piping and clear any substances that may be causing drain issues.
Past that, drain clogs are also common in the bathroom as soap gradually accumulates in the bath and shower drains. However, you should normalize checking the sink and laundry drains for the same issue. As mentioned above, when soap’s carried down the drain, it may slowly build up inside the walls of the pipe it passes through. Even though the buildup may be slow, sudden plumbing backups may be inevitable as the pipe continues to shrink in size as the soap accumulates.
The matter always worsens when you consider that most shower products, including shower gels and salts, may be insoluble in water. In that case, they may enter the drainage infrastructure while in the form of small particles. As the small particles continue to increase, they’ll gradually decrease the drain pipe’s diameter and it’ll be only a matter of time before you have to request a professional drain cleaning service.
Although soap’s considered the leading cause of shower drain clogs, human or pet hair has been known to result in blockages. It’s often left behind as you groom yourself or your pet directly over a sink. Luckily, you can have your drain cleaning service expert install a drain plug; it can help reduce the amount of hair getting into the drains.
On the same note, the third type of drainage clog is one that most homeowners have encountered, toilet blockages. In some circumstances, small-scale toilet clogs may happen when you try to flush too much toilet paper down the appliance. However, in other cases, the culprit may not be inside the toilet bowl, but further down your plumbing infrastructure or sewer line.
A clogged toilet often warns of more serious plumbing issues, which can include clogged plumbing pipes or a blocked sewer line. When your home has a clogged pipe or sewer line, it’s usually an indication that some solid materials may be in the path of the wastewater leaving your household.
Consequently, it becomes quite difficult and sometimes impossible for the sewer line to transport waste matter into the sewer system. What follows is a sewer line backup that sends nasty and contaminated sewage water through the drains, and in worse scenarios, into your home. Therefore, enigmatic toilet drain blockages should always prompt you to schedule a comprehensive drain cleaning service.
Typical Causes of Drain Blockages
As previously mentioned, continuously pouring oily or greasy food remains down the kitchen can eventually result in drain clogs. Essentially, when disposed of through the drain, the oil you use to prepare food can gradually stick to the walls of the drainage piping, thereby hindering wastewater flow and small materials from passing through. One way to avoid this scenario while ensuring that your home’s drainage system remains efficient even after the drain cleaning service is by packing the used oil in sealable containers and disposing of them correctly.
In a similar context, you should also ensure that you scrape off the fats from the pans and cooking pots before throwing them in the kitchen sink for washing. This is because fats melt into a liquid when exposed to heat, but they may still solidify depending on the weather. When in liquid form, the fat can travel for a certain distance within the plumbing infrastructure, lining the drainage pipes over time. Under such circumstances, you may be tempted to run to your nearest store to fetch some drain cleaning chemicals, but be warned that without the help of a trusted drain cleaning service technician your efforts may end up damaging the pipes instead.
Hair is also considered a major cause of drain clogs. Considering that the average human loses 50 to 100 strands of hair daily, it can be quite hard to keep accurate tabs on how much hair you may lose as you take a shower or bath. In most cases, such hair may remain trapped in the grate and you could easily remove it by pulling it. However, when the hair situation is left unattended for too long, the strands may travel further down the drainage system, requiring you to contact a professional drain cleaning service company for solutions. When the hair comes into contact with soap, a slimy substance that can easily block your home’s drainage may be formed.
To prevent such scenarios, drain cleaning service experts often recommend the installation of a filter or hair catcher to stop the hair from going down the drain. Some specialists may also advise you to groom your hair before stepping into the shower since the hairbrush can help hold on to any loose strands.
Besides that, dumping anything else but tissue paper and human waste in the toilet can cause drain blockages within a matter of time, regardless of whether or not your home uses a conventional sewer system or has a septic tank. Toilet paper manufacturers design their products to be soluble in water to guarantee easy passage within the drainage infrastructure.
On the other hand, non-biodegradable toiletries such as diapers and baby wipes along with feminine hygiene products are designed to absorb liquids and subsequently enlarge after the action. Therefore, they can quickly stir up problems within the drainage system, eventually rendering it ineffective with time. To avoid such situations, you should advise your household members not to dispose of the above-named toiletries through the toilet. Instead, you can set up a wastebasket that they can use.
You may have observed the aforementioned precautions, but the drainage clogs can’t seem to disappear. Well, it could be because of poor craftsmanship as the drainage system was being installed. Improperly installed drainage may be quite difficult for any homeowner to discern. Therefore, if you believe that the drain clogs in your home are a result of poor plumbing installation, you may need the help of a trained and experienced drain cleaning service technician.
That way, it becomes easier for you to find timely and comprehensive solutions for issues that couldn’t be resolved with a typical drain cleaning service. However, the most amicable way to avoid drain clogs arising from poor plumbing installation is by ensuring that you always choose a licensed and reputable plumbing company for all your needs.
What Happens During a Drain Cleaning Service
Your home’s plumbing infrastructure is often tucked away beneath the building’s foundation, intricately connecting with direct sewage lines and other plumbing systems in homes near you. Although plumbing pipes are often designed with a guarantee of long-term service, it can only be possible if they’re properly used.
Accidentally draining a foreign object that can potentially block the system can result in devastating consequences, which include complete system failure. However, with the help of technicians from a reputable drain cleaning service company, you can restore your home’s plumbing system after such scenarios. Here’s what you need to know regarding the drain cleaning process.
Drain cleaning is relatively fast and easy if you pick the right service provider. Amateur plumbers may still appreciate traditional drain-cleaning methods such as plumbing replacement and the use of hard chemicals, which can corrode the piping or even burn through metallic plumbing components. However, well-trained artisans use state-of-the-art equipment and tools to get the job done efficiently. Upon arrival, they’ll begin by thoroughly inspecting your home’s plumbing using advanced camera technology.
During this time, they’ll identify any anomalies in the infrastructure and provide effective solutions without having to dig up the ground to locate the pipes. Thereafter, they can either use hydro jetting, natural drain cleaners, or plumbing snakes and augers to unclog the drains.
Unlike man-made drain cleaners, natural drain cleaning products can effectively clear plumbing clogs without harshly affecting the pipes. They’re often created through a mix of natural ingredients that have minimal to no effect on the environment or your home’s plumbing. Experienced drain cleaning service technicians who’ll use the hydro jetting technique to clean your drains will use a high-pressure hose that’s fitted with a specialized nozzle.
The hose generates a powerful stream of water that pressurizes the plumbing pipes, eventually dislodging any debris that may have been stuck there. While the technique is cost-effective, you should always contact a trained professional for the service. This is because only they can understand the density of the pipe membrane and how much pressure to apply. In this context, injecting too much pressure may negatively affect the integrity of your home’s plumbing system.
Besides that, most drain cleaning experts in Mansfield, TX, and beyond use plumbing snakes and augers to clear drainage clogs. This process entails the technician feeding a metal tube, with blades and corkscrews attached, into the piping.
The tube is also connected to a strong cable that the plumber uses to direct the metal tubing. When the tube finds the clog, the drain cleaning service technician then activates the corkscrew to clean out the blockage. The plumber uses the tub to remove the debris from inside the pipe.
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth, A Drain Cleaning Service Company in Mansfield, TX You Can Trust
With adequate knowledge of what areas in your home are prone to drain clogs, the main causes of drainage blockages, and what happens during a drain cleaning service in Mansfield, TX, feel free to contact the professionals at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Fort Worth when faced with drainage issues.
Our family-owned and operated company offers wide-ranging plumbing solutions, including drain cleaning and treatment as well as tankless and commercial water heater installation, repair, and maintenance. We can also help with issues regarding showers, toilets, and sinks.