Call the Plumber the Sink is Clogged

“Whoa! Hold on a minute. Let’s assess the situation first,” I said to my spouse when she said we had to call the plumber. Now, I know I am not the handiest of handy people, but a good assessment of your situation could save you a ton of money.

Our bathroom sink was draining very slowly. I checked the other sinks and they all worked perfectly fine. The problem had to be in the bathroom sink. So I crawled up underneath the sink and removed the trap. The trap is the u-shaped pipe directly under the sink. To my amazement the trap was empty.

I removed the pivot seat and gasket followed by the horizontal rod and clip that lifts the stopper so the sink can drain. I then removed the stopper from the top and found it intertwined with filth and hair. I found my problem.

I decided to remove the whole tailpiece assembly and clean the pipes. I wound the nut directly under the sink all the way to the bottom and slid the gasket down as far as it would go. I unscrewed the flange from the tailpiece. The flange is the metal part you see at the bottom of the sink bowl. Once I removed the flange, the tailpiece came out from underneath the sink.

An inspection of the tailpiece revealed thick residue on the inside of the pipe. I thoroughly washed the tailpiece and flange. I used a soft wire brush to clean metal threads and reassembled the parts. I ran the water at full throttle and the sink worked perfectly. I monitored the trap and other fittings for leaks. The total cost for this fix it yourself project, zero dollars and an hour’s worth of time.

If you do not have the tools to remove the entire tailpiece and flange assembly, you may want to just remove the stopper and try to fish out any residue. Keep in mind that if you dislodge any residue along the inside of the pipe and do not remove it may clog the pipe somewhere else.