If you want to keep your bathroom fully functional and at peak performance, you’ll want to know these common bathroom mistakes to avoid. We at POM Group have been in the plumbing business for many years. That’s given us a lot of time to see people making the same mistakes over and over again. We want to help our clients avoid those mistakes in their own homes so that they can keep things running smoothly. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Contents
Causing Problems
The first thing we should talk about is how people tend to cause problems in their bathrooms. It’s easy to make a mistake that causes lasting issues. We’re going to cover the really common ones.
Flushing the Wrong Things
In this article, we’ll take a look at all of the things people flush that should actually be put into the trash. More than anything else, one of the leading causes of bathroom mayhem is people’s tendency to flush the wrong things. This happens a lot because of public misinformation or passing along habits from parent to child without realizing they’re problems.
Here are some things you should never flush:
Paper products that aren’t toilet paper
Paper towels, tissues, regular paper, and any other paper product that isn’t toilet paper is not created to degrade the same way as toilet paper. The way these products break down is not sufficient enough to keep them from wreaking havoc on your plumbing system. These products can cause drain clogs, backups, and damage to the larger sewage system – yes, even if you don’t have a septic tank.
Hygiene products
Tampons, pads, liners, makeup wipes, diapers, and baby wipes should never be flushed. Like the paper products mentioned above, they are not meant to degrade fast enough to avoid causing plumbing issues. Plus, someone at a sewage plant has to remove all of that from the sewage.
The two most common of these that get flushed are tampons and baby wipes (or other wet wipes). Tampons are commonly considered flushable by the public, but this misinformation only began because of their size and seeming ability to flush without problem. However, they can cause clogs and they do build up in the sewage system. If the local sewage system has to deal with tens of these a day from all of the locals, they can easily band together to create disaster.
Supposedly “flushable” wipes are not actually flushable. Like tampons, these are only called flushable because they aren’t likely to cause immediate problems upon flushing. That does not mean they aren’t causing issues further down the line. Throw these wipes into a trashcan instead. To avoid putting noticeable amounts of waste into your bathroom trashcan, wipe with toilet paper first and then use wet wipes for further cleanup.
Contaminants
While these items won’t necessarily cause your individual bathroom any problems, they will cause problems in the local water supply. Avoid flushing paint, lubricating oil, and medication. All three of these have to be disposed of in unique ways, none of which involve a toilet. Because these things are made with ingredients that are dangerous to humans, their ability to get into the water supply is also dangerous. Do you really want the local water to absorb prescription drugs? Neither do we.
Absorbent & Expanding
If you want to spell some serious trouble for your own bathroom, rather than the sewage system, just try flushing kitty litter, rice, or other absorbent solids. Kitty litter, rice, and many other things are made to expand when in contact with water. That means, as soon as it goes down your toilet drain, it begins absorbing water. That’s a great way to get one nasty blockage.
More Common Bathroom Mistakes
Ready for the other mistakes you should avoid? Check out Part 2 for more than just flushing the wrong things. If you’ve found your problem, call us and let us know you need some assistance.
