An emergency plumbing repair is never fun, and in the climate of trying to stay socially distant, you may have worries about what you will do if you need someone to come in. First, we will definitely work to ensure the safety of all involved, and we will discuss the precautions with you before we come. Second, some of the repairs you can do on your own at home, and we can tell you how to do the small repairs yourself.
If you have an emergency plumbing repair that is a clog, you can
do a lot to clear small, localized clogs on your own. If you have a clog in a shower or bathroom
sink, there’s a good chance you have hair and/or soap involved. First try getting needle-nosed pliers and
reaching down into the drain and grabbing the clog and pulling. It is a
disgusting job, but you likely will be able to pull quite a bit of hair out,
thus clearing the drain.
If nothing comes up, you might have soap and hair stuck too far
down to reach. Use the boiling water and
vinegar-and-baking soda procedure.
First, pour boiling water down the drain, then pour one ¼ cup of baking
soda, followed by 1 cup of vinegar, immediately covering the drain to force the
reaction down the pipes. Follow about 10
minutes later with more boiling water.
You can repeat that process a couple of times.
If your clog is in the kitchen sink, you can try the same methods,
and you can use a plumber’s helper on that or on the toilet if the problem is
there.
For leaky pipes and other emergency plumbing repairs, you probably
want to call us. We love the idea of DIY as much as anyone, but we also want to
keep your long-term bills down.