Plumbing

This past Friday, I had a glimmer of hope in the home improvement realm.  I am coming off a big win with the kitchen table refinishing in October and decided to push my luck with a clogged sink.  After reviewing you tube videos, I figured it was something I could handle armed with my existing tools and a dedicated (non-toilet) plunger.

I started with my sink that was not draining.  The first step is to remove the plunger and inspect the drain.  Upon doing this, I found coagulated shaving stubble along with hair and other generic nastiness.  Unfortunately during disassembly, I dropped something into the trap and had the opportunity to clean that out as well.  That happened to be generic sewage stuff.  After reassembling everything I was thrilled that everything worked and even more thrilled that it was draining perfectly.  I did not need the plunger and was glad I did not invest in a plumber’s snake.

Riding this victory, I did my wife’s sink as well and she noticed an improvement also.  It is amazing how much hair can slip past the standard plunger design and it kind of made me long for the old style system with the tiny holes and removable stopper.

The last stop on the plumbing front was the girl’s bathtub.  A bathtub is actually easier to do and again requires taking apart the plunger and then cleaning out the mess.  That was successful as well and I pulled out hair and small stickers.  Again I did not need the plunger or snake.  The final step of cleaning the trap would have required removing the tub.

All in all I was pleased to save $79 x 3 = $237 for a plumbers visit.  Although my sink was the driving factor, living in a house with three girls made me more inclined to try to learn how to do this.