Is your household preparing to host a holiday party? Naturally, the holiday season brings festive joy, delicious meals and gatherings with family and friends. But while your home fills with laughter and the scent of baked goods, your kitchen sink is likely taking a bit of a beating! During this busy time of year, the sink often becomes ground zero for clogged drains, unpleasant odours and plumbing mishaps.
What makes the holiday season a stress on your kitchen sink?
When you host a holiday gathering, you’re using the kitchen more intensively than usual. Between cooking, baking, dishwashing and cleanup, your sink handles more grease, more food scraps and more water flow than it’s built for on an average day. The most common troublemakers are grease, fats and oils. While they might seem harmless going down the drain when hot, they quickly cool and solidify inside the pipes. They cause sticky blockages that catch other debris. Over time, this can lead to serious backups.
Then there are the fibrous or starchy food items like potato peels, onion skins, celery and rice. These don’t break down easily and often end up jamming the garbage disposal or forming clogs deeper in the drainage system. Add in things like coffee grounds, bones and eggshells and you’ve got a perfect storm of plumbing problems just waiting to happen. The increased use of water from dishwashers and handwashing only adds to the stress on your pipes.
What can be done to prevent holiday sink headaches?
Always scrape plates thoroughly into the trash or compost before rinsing. This simple step reduces the amount of solids entering your drain. Also, never pour grease or oil directly into the sink. Instead, collect it in a container, let it solidify and then dispose of it in the garbage. Use a sink strainer too. This handy little tool catches food particles before they can slide into the pipes.
Use your garbage disposal wisely as well. Run cold water before, during and after using your disposal. Be sure to avoid stuffing in large amounts of food or tough items like peels and fibrous veggies. In addition, after a heavy cooking day, flush your drain with hot water or a baking soda and vinegar mix to clear out lingering residue and neutralize odours. Finally, try to space out your water usage. If your plumbing system is older or already prone to slow drainage, spacing out dishwasher loads and hot water use can help ease the pressure.
When is the right time to call in a professional plumber?
If you hear gurgling sounds, notice water pooling around the drain or catch a whiff of something foul, don’t wait! Those are all signs it’s time to call a professional before things get worse. The longer you wait, the more serious and expensive the repairs could be.
For kitchen and bathroom sink installations, 2 Bro’s Plumbing is Durham Region’s trusted choice. We’re a qualified drain plumber team that homeowners rely on for efficient drainage connections and proper compliance. We don’t just install sinks. We ensure the whole system works smoothly from start to finish. With our commitment to customer satisfaction and years of hands-on experience, we’re proud to be the local team that Durham families trust for reliable plumbing solutions.
Please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 905-556-0790, email us at admin@2brosplumbing.ca or fill out the form on our Contact page for a free quote today!
