Plumbing is the last thing anyone wants to worry about. It’s a common problem everyone would rather outsource to an expert. But often, proper drain cleaning and maintenance can prevent many plumbing problems and messes.
Thankfully, plenty of contract professionals repair, maintain, and clean plumbing for a living. As professionals ourselves, At Your Maintenance, we can help inform you of how to clean your own drain or vet and verify the right contractor who can do it for you.
Drain Cleaning Tips and Advice
The experts quickly and easily do proper drain cleaning, but home remedies are possible and just as capable of clearing out obstacles for easy water flow.
Below are three simple home remedy recipes for a DIY home Drain Cleaner.
- Baking soda and Vinegar
Pour ½ cup of baking soda into the blocked drain, then pour ½ cup of vinegar directly afterwards. Plug the drain and let the chemicals sit in the drain for about 1 hour. Then pour an entire pot of boiling water down the drain.
This recipe can be repeated several times if necessary. Be warned that the vinegar solution creates an odour that might be unpleasant for the room, but the next remedy does not.
- Baking soda and Lemon Juice
Following the same process as the remedy above – pour ½ cup of baking soda followed by ½ cup of lemon juice into the drain. Let it sit for an hour before pouring a pot of boiling water down the drain.
This home remedy is preferable if the clogged drain is in the kitchen or a room where you don’t want to smell the vinegar. Lemon juice is just as acidic and effective as vinegar. It’s just a more expensive product to use in this way.
- Salt and Borax and Vinegar
Pour ¼ cup of salt, ¼ Borax and ½ cup of vinegar down the drain – in that order. Pour a pot of boiling water down the drain and let the solution sit for an hour before running hot tap water down the drain.
This remedy is the most heavy-duty of these home remedies, so use this combination after the other solutions fail at clearing the drain.
What services does a plumber offer?
If your plumbing problem is more serious than vinegar and some praying can be fixed, calling a plumber is the best option. But what services can a general plumber offer? Below we’ve compiled a list of routine plumbing services any professional should be capable of.
- Tap maintenance and burst repairs
- Blocked pipe treatment and repairs
- Hot water units – installation and maintenance
- Leak detection and repairs
- Roof servicing – proper roofing and water security can prevent many water damage problems.
- Water and gas pipework – installation and maintenance
- Toilets – installation, repairs and maintenance
- Basin – installation, repairs and maintenance
No matter the circumstance, it’s a plumber’s job to do the following:
- Assess the situation – review the scene and complications in their entirety
- Find the fault – after gathering information and details from you and the plumbing, an expert should be able to deduce with accuracy what has occurred.
- Address and then repair the problem – after understanding the problem, a plumber should communicate to you what has occurred and then advise the best solution and fix. They should not begin any repairs or replacements without consulting with you first.
Now that you know how to clear a blocked drain and whether a plumber can fix any other plumbing issue you might have, how can you confirm a plumber is professional and reliable?
What should you know before hiring a plumbing expert?
When hiring someone to do work on your home, you must verify they’re legit and qualified before welcoming them through the door.
Below are some of our suggestions on what makes a professional plumber:
- They should have the proper licensing.
Genuine businesses should always include references and qualifications on their websites. If they don’t advertise their licenses or certificates, then you could always ask for them via email in the hiring process. This is a great assurance when hiring a new install or construction crew to work in your home.
Once you have access to their licensing, check which building authorities issued their documents. This building authority will be the body to hold any business contractors accountable for poor workmanship as they set the building standards for the area.
- They should offer a warranty on their labour.
You should be offered a warranty as standard safety and security practice. When we buy expensive appliances, we expect a warranty. Therefore, those who work with those expensive appliances or fixtures should then offer the same assurance of their work.
- Their websites should include honest and real reviews
This is a soft warranty. Knowing others have approved and reviewed their work is a great way to feel more confident in hiring a new plumber.
Of course, anyone can post a comment or create a fake review – so read through several reviews to understand their overall business approval rating.
Now that we’ve clarified what makes a qualified and professional plumber, you should understand what makes us capable and excellent at our trade. At Your Maintenance are a Melbourne based plumbing and electrical business that is the perfect contractor for your plumbing needs.
