Encountering a blocked drain on your property is always a frustrating situation – blocked drains can cause a whole range of issues, including backed up pipes, bad smells filtering into your home, and leaks due to a build-up of pressure.

While at Greenstar, we would always recommend our drain unblocking service for a comprehensive and conclusive end to your blocked drain issues, this may not always be possible for a number of reasons.

That’s why we thought it would be helpful to detail how you can take steps to tackling the problem at home – using a mixture easily made from common household ingredients.

What do you need to make it?

If you ever made a model volcano during your school years, then you will already be plenty familiar with the ingredients in this mixture.

The base of the mixture is Baking Soda, or Bicarbonate Soda, known for being a reactive and multipurpose substance. This is followed by distilled white vinegar, anacidic liquid intended to react with the soda.

The only other component you’ll need is boiling water – making it a cheap and much less corrosive option.

Method of use

Starting with your basin, whether this is the kitchen sink or the bathtub, you will need to ensure that there is as little backed-up or standing water as possible, so that your unblocking mixture can get to the source of the blockage.

Once this has been ensured, take a jug of boiling water and pour that into the drain, which should properly prepare the drain for the mixture.

Now for the baking soda and vinegar, in that order. Use roughly the same amount of each, using your appropriate metric of measurement – many recipes say half a cup.

The drain’s plug or stopper is a small but important part of the process, as popping this on will keep the reaction contained within the pipes to have a maximum impact.

After leaving the mixture to react for 10 or so minutes, rinse the pipes with the hot water tap, as this should help dislodge any particularly stubborn lumps or clogs.

We then recommend assessing the result, and whether the one run through was enough – this low cost and eco-safe method may need multiple run throughs to achieve the desired results.

Why you should call the professionals

Should you give the above method a few goes, and you are still experiencing typical blocked-drain issues such as smells, gurgling and inefficient draining, at Greenstar we offer a comprehensive, professional drain unblocking service, with our engineers leaving nothing to chance.

While we appreciate this cheap, eco-friendly, at-home method, we can’t guarantee its effectiveness – unlike with our professional engineers, who have a whole arsenal of tools at their disposal to complete an efficient and effective job.

With our service, you can cut out any uncertainties and ensure that you have a fully functioning drain as soon as possible.

Greenstar drain unblocking services

At Greenstar, we offer a huge range of property maintenance services, including heating, boilers, and plumbing, as well as our bespoke and professional drain unblocking service.

For more information, you can check out the pages on the rest of our website, or you can get in contact with a member of our friendly team today – on 01202 355 344.