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During our last article, we discussed bathroom cleaning solutions for your bathtub and how to make bathtub cleaning less physically demanding. Now, we’re on to the sink. Not only the basin of the sink, but the counter and faucet, can be difficult to get clean. Here’s how you can limit the amount of effort it takes to clean your sink.

Sink Difficulties

Sinks can be really difficult to get clean. This is especially true if your water is hard and leads to mineral buildup. Mineral buildup can get in the cracks around the drain, in corners around the faucet, and the edge where the sink basin meets the counter. Plus, if your sink is used frequently, water droplets on the counter may not have time to dry and can lead to the counter getting a mineral film on it. A household with many people sharing the same sink exacerbates this problem.

Choose the Right Cleaners

The first step to cleaning your sink effectively is choosing the right cleaners. This is especially true if you grew up in a different part of the country or world. Weirdly enough, bathroom cleaning solutions vary widely depending on where you are. This is primarily because of the type of things in the water. 

If you grew up somewhere where there are no minerals in the water, you may be finding it difficult to clean now that minerals are present. If you grew up without minerals in the water, you may not even know there are cleaners specifically for this. Make sure you’ve gotten cleaners made specifically for the type of minerals you’re dealing with. If you’re not sure what’s in the water, a Google search regarding water for your area might yield some results. If not, search the appearance of the buildup and you will likely find some answers. Plus, if you can’t find what you need in stores, you can buy them online.

Soak

To make cleaning easier, plugging your sink and filling it with water, as hot as it goes, and letting it sit for 30 minutes will help. This soak will soften anything stuck to the sink basin. You can also include bleach or a concentrated chemical cleaner in the soak.

Do no mix cleaners with bleach. Choose one or the other. Mixing chemicals, especially with bleach, can lead to hazardous and deadly chemical reactions. These reactions may be gas-producing, which may go unnoticed until it’s already affecting you.

Scrub down the sink basin with the rough side of a sponge after you’ve drained it. Scrubbing should be significantly easier after the soak.

Countertops

Countertops are a bit more complex to prep for cleaning, as they can’t be filled with water. Luckily, we have invented foaming sprays and powders that can clean them very effectively. Sprinkling some of these chemical powders on the surface and then spreading it around with a wet sponge is a great start. Or, if spray is your preference, spray on a foaming spray and let it sit. Both of these, after ten minutes or so, can be wiped away along with the grime on the counter, with minimal scrubbing.

Drains

If you have grime buildup around the seam of a drain, it can be really hard to clean with a brush or sponge. Instead, try pouring a bit of concentrated cleaner directly around the seam of the drain. This probably won’t be necessary every time you clean the sink, so it’s worth the extra pour of cleaner. Let it sit for 30 minutes and then return to it with hot water, the rough side of a sponge, and some determination. Toothpicks are also useful if you need something to scrape at it with. Combining these methods can give you a sink that’s sparkling like new.

Sink Maintenance

Bathroom cleaning solutions are easy to put into action yourself. However, if your sink is having trouble draining, leave the maintenance aspect to the professionals. Chemical drain cleaners can corrode your pipes and cause bigger issues down the line. Instead, give us a call if you need more than a little scrub down. POM Plumbing is here to help.

Most of us have a set way that we clean our bathrooms. It might be due to the way we were taught, growing up, or it might be something we’ve figured out for ourselves. Either way, it usually involves cleaners we’re familiar with and methods that are obvious. However, not all cleaning solutions are obvious. Let’s check out some ingenious bathroom cleaning solutions that will make your life easier.

Work Smarter

– not harder. As the saying goes, the most effective methods are not always the ones that involve more work. That distinction is important to many of us! Whether you’re disabled, have put too much stress on your body while cleaning in the past, or want to avoid doing so in the future, this list is for you. These methods may not be the fastest, but they will cut down on the amount of effort required.

Bathtub Cleaning

Cleaning a bathtub is one of the most physically demanding parts of cleaning a bathroom. This is especially true if you only do it every month or so, as needed. Bathtubs build up grime slowly. However, over time, you may notice mold, dirt buildup, or mineral buildup that requires extensive scrubbing. Even with chemical cleaners, this is hard work.

Soak It

To make this process easier, soak your tub the way you would soak dirty dishes with food stuck to them. Before cleaning, turn the hot water on to as hot as it can go and fill the tub. Then, let it sit for thirty minutes. This will only soak the tub as high as the overflow drain, but that can make all the difference.

Chemical Advantages

If you want to make this even more effective, pour in a cup of bleach before filling it. For bathtubs with mineral buildup, include half a cup of a concentrated mineral removal cleaner*. Ensure, before doing this, that the cleaner does not prohibit mixture with hot water on the label, as this could nullify its effectiveness or react. 

*Do no mix cleaners with bleach. Choose one or the other. Mixing chemicals, especially with bleach, can lead to hazardous and deadly chemical reactions. These reactions may be gas-producing, which may go unnoticed until it’s already affecting you.

Effect

Once your bathtub has soaked in hot water, with or without cleaners mixed in, pull the plug and let it drain. Be sure to wash your hands off immediately after unplugging the tub, if reaching into chemical water.

The hot water, and any included cleaners, will have softened any buildup on the inside of the tub, or removed some of it altogether. From there, immediately after draining, use the rough side of a sponge to scrub at the inside of the tub. Some cleaner (of the same type you already used, or if you didn’t use any) may be necessary. A quick once-over of the entire tub is wise, though you may only need to give focused attention to areas that are visibly dirty. These areas should be significantly easier to scrub clean than usual. Then, simply rinse your tub thoroughly with hot water to clear away any remaining chemicals.

Tub Maintenance

If your tub is in need of replacement or your drain is not draining, you may need a visit from the professionals. Cleaning is great for DIY but, when you need maintenance help, the professionals at POM Plumbing are here to help. Call us today if you need assistance. For more ingenious bathroom cleaning solutions, check out our blog!

Plumbing is one of those things that we tend to forget we have. We’ve grown so used to always having running water, a functional shower, and a toilet that we only remember how important they are when they stop working. Instead of waiting for your plumbing to stop working, the experts at POM Plumbing encourage you to replace outdated plumbing before it breaks. If you aren’t sure this applies to you, take a look at the following.

How Old is Your Plumbing?

Wondering if you need to replace outdated plumbing? The first step is to figure out how old your plumbing is. Plumbing is set to last somewhere between 70 and 100 years. It’s around the 60 year mark that major problems begin cropping up. The kind of problems that come from outdated plumbing are not just simple clogs and bad water pressure, though those are on the list. Outdated plumbing can lead to pipe bursts, flooding, mold problems, and an overall decline in your home’s interior and value.

Many people live in older houses and forget that the plumbing won’t last forever. New homes don’t pose much risk with their plumbing. However, if you live in a home you bought used, you should check into what year it was built in. A lot of people think of an old home as something that was built in the 19th century. However, for a home to have outdated pipes, it only has to have been built around 1950. If your plumbing is nearing 70 years old, it’s time to replace it.

Younger Outdated Pipes

The truth is, some pipes that were put in even more recently – say, in the 80s – can also be outdated despite only being 40 years old. Plumbing standards and regulations have changed a lot over the years. That can mean that your plumbing is not functional in the way it should be even if they’re more recent.

For instance, a common issue is that drain pipes put in in the 20th century were made for a lower water volume. They may have been efficient when they were installed, but can’t keep up with modern water volumes. This can lead to water pooling in the tub or shower while you use it. It can lead to toilets not flushing properly or backing up. Even though your 40-year-old pipes may not be breaking from age, they are no longer doing their job.

Replace Outdated Plumbing

If your plumbing is no longer doing its job, it’s time to call in the professionals. Call us today if you need a professional plumber to come check out your plumbing. We can give you a quote on plumbing replacement and then get to work as soon as you need. We look forward to serving you and bringing your home back to its full, functional potential.

Is your drain not, well, draining? It could be from any number of things. Many people rely on using chemical drain cleaners to fix their problem. You shouldn’t use these, as they will damage your pipes. However, if you already have and you still have a blocked drain, it might be time to check things out with a camera inspection, courtesy of POM Plumbing.

What is A Camera Inspection?

When your drain is blocked, a camera inspection is a great way to check out what the problem is with our own eyes. Normally, without a camera, figuring out what’s wrong with a drain is a matter of randomly trying things until something works. Drain cleaner, snaking, or taking apart pipes are some ways we experiment in fixing a drain.

However, what a dysfunctional drain always comes down to is that something is in the way of the pipeway. Therefore, the easiest way to find out the problem is to follow the drain itself until we get stopped by what’s stopping everything else. To do this, we attach a small camera to the end of a line and feed it into the drain pipe. We can then watch the live camera feed from a monitor, seeing with our own eyes what it is that’s causing the problem.

The Verdict

Once we’ve followed the drain down with the camera, we’ll be able to find what the problem is. If it’s a blockage, we can then move on to snaking. If we’ve already tried snaking and it wasn’t effective, we can also try removing the affected pipe and removing the blockage more forcefully.

However, camera inspections, especially those following a failed attempt at snaking, can often reveal more than just a blockage. The problem may lie in the pipe having broken.

It is not at all uncommon for underground pipes to break and collapse. This happens or many reasons. The pipe may have become weaker with years of intense shifts in temperature. It may have been broken forcefully by tree or plant roots. Or, it may have just aged and eroded, going unreplaced for long enough that it can no longer support the earth pressing down on it. No matter the case, a broken pipe must be replaced or repaired.

Fixing Broken Pipes

If you have broken pipes that need fixing, POM Plumbing is more than happy to be of service. Broken pipes in the walls can be accessed by removing a relatively small portion of drywall. The broken pipe can then be removed and replaced with a new one. If the break is minor, it an also be repaired. Pipe repairs are typically done by putting a tight, rubber sleeve around the broken portion of the pipe. Drywall is then replaced and made to look like the rest of the wall like we were never there.

Broken pipes underground will require a bit of digging. Our expert team will replace a broken, outdoor pipe in no time at all. Once the broken pipe is fixed, you should no longer have any trouble with a blocked drain.

If you’re in need of plumbing expertise for a blocked drain, a camera inspection, or pipe repairs, POM Plumbing is Toronto’s #1 choice for plumbing service. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to schedule an inspection for you.