Home maintenance, remember your drain traps!

Most people likely do not think of drain traps in regular home maintenance.. but I do. In my old house, I would remove the drain traps twice a year (spring and fall) to be sure they were clear of build-up. Nobody wants to deal with a clogged drain, and by inspecting them regularly I have been fortunate to avoid said problem. We've lived in our "new" home only for 3 months, and we've encountered many hidden issues that have needed to be addressed, as well as some not hidden ones (ie no HVAC, but we've taken care of that now!) So cleaning the drains hasn't crossed my mind.. until today!

My youngest informs me the bathroom sink is full and not draining, which made me realize not everyone is as diligent on trap cleaning as I am.. Side note: hair, gunk and whatever nasty build up is gross to pull out of plumbing regardless, but knowing you're pulling out some strangers nasties...yuck! Anyway..

Cleaning traps is really quite easy, especially if you have pvc pipes. You just put a shallow bucket under the trap, then unscrew the connectors and pull the trap out. Drain it, and clean it out.

Now for the pipe running from the sink to the trap, I use a metal clothes hanger I untwisted. (favorite tool there.. works good for drains and unclogging the vacuum hose) I remove the sink stopper and shoved the hanger to scrape and push any gunk straight down into the bucket. Then put it all back together.

Today, I removed what looked like a matted drowned rat! Ok, not a real rat, but a huge clump of  soppy tangled hair... Sorry I have no pics for what I pulled out, but 1) at the time I wasn't thinking "hey, I can post on this" and 2) would you REALLY want to see the gross balled up clump of unknown origins?? (if so, ewhh!!)

In short, remembering to remove and clean your drain traps periodically can really save you aggravation on having a clogged sink, and then having to deal with the issue when it may not be so convenient!