At home you can deal with a blockage in a single sink, bathtub or toilet — if it is close and fresh. If water stands in several drains at once or comes up by itself when the neighbours drain theirs, home methods won’t help, and some will make things worse. Below: how to tell your case, what to do and what not to do.
First — where is the blockage
Before you reach for the plunger, look at where exactly the water stands. That decides whether anything from home will help.
| What you see | Where the blockage is | Can you do it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Water won’t drain at one point — a sink, bathtub or toilet | The trap or branch of that point | Yes, try the methods below |
| Water stands at several points at once | The apartment pipe | A long cable is needed — apartment blockage |
| Water comes up when the neighbours drain theirs | The shared riser | Not by yourself — central riser |
| The well in the yard is overflowing | The outside pipe | Equipment is needed — sewer well cleaning |
It is easy to check: run water in the kitchen and the bathroom and flush the toilet. If everything drains except one drain, the blockage is in it. If water stands in the bathtub while the washing machine runs or dishes are being washed, the blockage is lower — in the apartment’s shared pipe. And if water appears in the bathtub or toilet although nobody at home drained anything, it is the neighbours above, and the blockage is in the riser.
If the blockage is at one point and happened recently, read on. In other cases home methods will waste time, and the blockage will stay put or go deeper.
What works
The plunger — used properly
A plunger works only if it builds pressure. Add water so that it covers the plunger cup. Plug the overflow of the sink or bathtub with a wet cloth, and in a double sink the second bowl: otherwise the air goes there, not into the blockage. Press the plunger down and make 10–15 sharp pulls towards you. Pulling matters more than pushing: the blockage is drawn back, not pushed further. When the water has gone, flush the drain with hot water.
A plunger for the toilet
A toilet needs a plunger with a cone sticking out below — a flat one doesn’t seal the outlet. If the water rises to the rim, don’t flush again: the cistern will add water and it will end up on the floor. Bail the extra into a bucket, leave enough water to cover the plunger cup, and pump the same way — sharply towards you.
Taking the trap apart
Kitchen sinks and basins most often clog right in the trap — the bend under the bowl. Put a bucket under it, undo the nuts by hand, take the bend off and rinse it over another sink. Put it back and make sure the washer sits straight, not skewed — otherwise it will leak. In the kitchen, most grease blockages go this way. More about kitchen sinks — on the kitchen sink unclogging page.
Pulling out hair
In a bathtub or shower drain the blockage is almost always hair and soap, sitting right by the grate. Remove the grate and pull the clump out with a hook or a plastic strip with barbs — hardware shops sell them. A plunger helps less here: hair springs back into place. What to do if the clump won’t come out — on the bathtub and floor drain page.
Hot water with dish soap
If the blockage is grease or paper and the water isn’t up to the rim, pour a little dish soap into the drain, then hot water — hot, but not boiling. The soap softens the grease, the water carries it further down the pipe. For a toilet it is the same: soap, then a bucket of hot water from a little height. More about toilets — on the toilet unclogging page.
What doesn’t work or does harm
Boiling water
Boiling water warps plastic pipes and joints: a week later a leak may appear where the blockage was. The ceramic of a toilet or basin can crack from a sharp temperature change. Hot water from the tap — yes, boiling water from the kettle — no.
Chemicals in standing water
A drain cleaner poured into standing water gets diluted and hardly reaches the blockage. But the water in the drain turns caustic: when you plunge it splashes onto your hands and face, and the technician then has to work in it. If water is standing, don’t pour chemicals at all.
Mixing products
Never mix drain products. A chlorine-based product together with an acidic one gives off a poisonous gas. If one is already in the drain, don’t add the other even hours later: they will meet in the pipe. If you notice a sharp smell, open a window and leave the room.
Baking soda and vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar fizz impressively, but the fizzing is the two reacting with each other, not with the blockage. It hardly touches a dense blockage. At most it helps against a smell from the drain.
Wire and coat hangers
A bent wire scratches the bend and the trap from the inside. Hair and grease then catch on the scratches, and the blockage comes back sooner. A plastic trap can even be punctured with wire.
A household cable — when it is fine
A 3–5 m hand cable from a hardware shop clears a blockage in the trap and the first bend. Beyond that it often doesn’t break through but pushes the blockage deeper, where it packs tighter — and the job becomes more expensive. We don’t recommend a household cable for a toilet: it scratches the ceramic, and the toilet bend is narrow and steep. How our electric cable differs from a household one — on the cable cleaning page.
What it costs if it didn’t work
If home methods didn’t help, cable cleaning costs 200 ₾ for a sink or bathtub, 250 ₾ for a toilet and 350 ₾ for the apartment pipe. That is the price of the whole job in the daytime; in the evening and at night it costs more, by the hour. Why the price is what it is and how not to overpay — in the article “How much drain cleaning costs in Tbilisi”.
When to stop and call
Stop and call a technician if:
- 15 minutes of trying brought no result;
- something solid fell into the drain — a toy, a cap, a phone;
- water stands in several drains at once;
- water comes up when the neighbours drain theirs;
- water is at the rim or already on the floor.
In these cases every further attempt is more likely to complicate the job. When you call, tell us what you have tried — especially if you poured chemicals into the drain: the technician will bring gloves and goggles and won’t plunge caustic water. Tell us how many drains are standing and since when: that way we understand at once where the blockage is and give a price. What to do before the technician arrives so the water doesn’t reach the neighbours — on the emergency call-out page.
How to keep it from happening again
- Grease and food scraps go in the bin, not the sink: grease cools in the pipe and builds up in layers.
- Wet wipes, tampons and cat litter don’t go in the toilet. They are what we pull out of blockages most often.
- Strainers on the bathroom and kitchen drains catch hair and crumbs — a strainer is easier to clean than a pipe.
- Once a week, flush the kitchen sink with hot water and dish soap.
- In a private house — a preventive flush of the outside pipe every year or two: more on the private house drains page.
