Having a backed up sink is no fun for anyone. It will render your once beautiful kitchen fairly useless and leave you with a much greater appreciation for the humble kitchen sink than when you took it for granted. This is true of every sink, toilet and faucet that you have in your house. The moment it stops working you are going to get frustrated.

What many people don’t realize is that most plumbing blockages are easily avoidable. By following a few simple rules, you can help to keep your plumbing working smoothly at all times.

1. Don’t pour grease down the sink

This can be very tempting to do as it is so easy and quick when you are cleaning the kitchen. If you do this the grease will build up in your pipes until a blockage forms. The best way to dispose of grease is to wait for it to cool, soak it up with a paper towel and then throw it in the garbage.

2. Be careful what you flush

There has recently been a spike in the number of supposedly flushable products such as flushable wipes. While it may be true that you can flush these wipes they do not dissolve the way that toilet paper does. This means that over time sewage systems have become backed up with many of these so-called flushable wipes. If you do insist on using a flushable wipe then you should make a point of reading the reviews of the product to make sure that it will dissolve in water and meets the correct standard to be described as a flushable wipe.

3. Don’t use the pipes as coat hangers

If you have exposed pipes then they present the perfect option to hand and dry your clothes. These are often found in basements. These pipes are designed to support their own weight and the weight of the water passing through them. If you put even just a few wet pants and shirts on them to hand you can cause the pipe to burst. It is strongly advised that you don’t use them as clothing racks.

4. Be careful what you use to clean your toilet bowl

There are certain products that can cause problems for your plumbing. The most damaging is the “drop-in bowl” cleaner. These have corrosive chemicals that can, over time, damage the pipes to the point that you need to replace them. You may be interested to know that a lot of toilet manufacturers have written it into their warranties that the use of a drop in cleaner will void the warranty.

5. Take it easy on your garbage disposal

Garbage disposal machines are a great invention. They can help you dispose of your kitchen wase in no time. They do have their limits though and you should not overwhelm them with too much food at once.

6. Educate everyone in the home

While it is important for you to know and follow all of these rules, you need to make sure that everyone else in the house does too. After all, the sinks, toilets, and bathtub are shared between everyone. It only takes one of the family to be repeatedly flushing non-flushable wipes down the toilet to cause a huge back up of the system.

7. By a drain sieve

These are very effective at stopping hair from clogging the shower drain and food from going down the sink. Hair can cause a back up in your shower and no one wants to shower in a few inches of cold water every morning.