10 excellent tips to deal with your clogged bathroom sink and toilet

Clogged bathroom or toilet— neither of them is a pleasant scenario at your home. So, you must follow some effective ways to deal with it.

A bathroom sink or a toilet bowl can get clogged due to many reasons, such as an older pipe, a clogged drainage system, an empty tank, an accumulation of things such as human hair and food debris, and so on. Whatever the reason is, you must get over this nasty hassle as soon as possible.

We’ve shared five tips apiece to deal with a clogged bathroom sink and a clogged toilet. Applying these tips should help you clear out your sink and toilet bowl.

Read on to find out those tips below.

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5 tips to clear your bathroom sink

A clogged sink or toilet can originate from the plumbing. Thus, checking whether the drain cleaner is safe for PVC pipe or not may help in dealing with a clogged bathroom sink and toilet bowl.

If the problem doesn’t lie with the plumbing, which may require professional help, you’re well off to tackle the nasty situation by yourself. And here’s when our tips come to save your day.

Following the tips and steps below will help you unclog the sink and toilet bowl of your personal and guest bathroom in a cheap yet efficient way.

So, get your hands gloved and get ready to start with our tips to unclog a bathroom sink:

1.  Apply salt and baking soda

Salt and baking soda can make an excellent combination to unclog any clutter or sediment in a passage. Their chemistry along with hot water can work wonders in removing pipeline blockages.

But how to work out this wonderful hack? Follow the below steps:

• Step 1: Mix ½ cup of salt and soda each. Meanwhile, boil some water (about a half-liter).
• Step 2: Pour the mixture into the sink’s drain pipe.
• Step 3: Wait for 15-20 minutes.
• Step 4: Now, pour the boiling water slowly down the sink pipe.
• Step 5: The chemical reaction of salt, baking soda, and hot water will gradually clear the passage.

You can follow this tip once a month to keep the bathroom sink smooth and clear.

2.  Apply Vinegar and Baking Soda

A similar bathroom sink unclogging combo is vinegar and baking soda. For many, it’s an ancient method but always effective in clearing the bathroom sink passage.

Want to know how it works? Then let’s deal with the steps below:

• Step 1: Mix ⅓ cup of vinegar and baking soda each. Meanwhile, boil some water (a half-liter).
• Step 2: As the mixture starts to create bubbles, pour it down the bathroom sink without any delay.
• Step 3: Let the bubble work its way into removing the dirt, human hair, or grime in the sink line for an hour.
• Step 4: Now, pour the hot water slowly down the pipeline to flush the dirt.

You may follow this trick once or twice a month. But overuse of baking soda may corrode the sink walls, thereby, destroying the whole pipeline.

3.  Use a Vacuum (Wet and Dry)

A shop vacuum can be your perfect weapon to fight the uncompromising clogs. Make sure it’s the ‘wet and dry’ one, so you can deal with the semi-liquid to liquid sediments inside the drain.

But how to use it? Here are the steps:

• Step 1: Seal the vacuum hose with a plunger head or a wet rag. It helps the vacuum function effectively with the suction.
• Step 2: Set the vacuum machine to its maximum liquid suction setting.
• Step 3: Remove the sink strainer or plate.
• Step 4: Start the machine and let it operate on the bathroom sink line. The strong suction power will remove anything that’s clogging the line.
• Step 5: Take the vacuum pipe slowly out of the sink line once you’re sure that all dirt and grime are cleared off the drain. 

Don’t forget to clean the vacuum pipe thoroughly after the job is done.

4.  Pour Boiling Water

Boiling water works best to unclog bathroom sinks when the possible culprit is soap scum.

Follow the below steps to use boiling water to clear out your bathroom sink effectively:

• Step 1: Fill a large pot with water and boil it.
• Step 2: Pour ⅓ of the boiling water down the drain once. Wait for 5 minutes.
• Step 3: Pour another ⅓ of the boiling water this time. Again wait for another 5 minutes.
• Step 4: This time, pour the rest of the boiling water down the sink line.

You should get the result within half an hour. But remember, boiling water alone only works best if there’s no warm water already remaining in the drain.

5.  Use a Wire Hanger

A wire hanger can do the trick for you and get the bathroom sink clear with some effort. This trick will take longer than what we’ve shared above, and it’s only advised if none of the others work for you.

So, get the necessary stuff ready for the mission:

• A wire hanger.
• A pair of rubber gloves.
• Pliers.
• A bucket.

Now, let’s get to the steps:

• Step 1: Turn off the sink water and set the bucket underneath in case excess water leaks out.
• Step 2: Remove the bathroom sink stopper, following the necessary unscrewing steps.
• Step 3: Put on your rubber gloves. As the stopper is loosened, pull it up and out of the drain.
• Step 4: Clean the stopper of dirt, grime, and hair with rubbing alcohol in a separate sink.
• Step 5: Now untwist the wire hanger and bend it into a tool shape.
• Step 6: Insert the long end of the hanger-tool inside the drain.
• Step 7: Now keep swinging the tool-shaped part clockwise to unclog the drain of dirt.
• Step 8: You can pour some hot water to clean the dirt for good while smoothing the passage.

This effort should help you get your bathroom sink cleared out. But call a professional plumber if things get out of hand in the process.  

5 Tips to Unclog Your Toilet

Let’s get down to the toilet unclogging mission this time. Unless you want to remodel your bathroom tomorrow, clearing the toilet bowl soon is the only way to go when you find it clogged.

Read more: Frequent toilet problems

1.  Apply Dish Soap

Your kitchen dish soap can come in real handy in unclogging the toilet. This slippery liquid can lubricate the toilet walls, dislodging the dirt gradually.

Let’s get to know how this works:

• Step 1: Take a ½ cup of dish liquid soap and pour it into the toilet bowl.
• Step 2: Now drop shredded hand soap pieces into the toilet.
• Step 3: Leave the two types of soap for half an hour.
• Step 4: Flush it to clean and unclog the toilet.

There, you can get rid of clogged toilet walls in no time.

2.  Apply Baking Soda and Vinegar

Baking soda and vinegar work effectively to clean dishes, cloth, and tiles. They work for the toilet as well.

We’ve suggested this mixture above for the bathroom sink, but this works as efficiently for the toilet bowl too.

So, let’s repeat the drill. This time, for your toilet:

• Step 1: Mix 2 cups of vinegar and 1 cup of baking soda.
• Step 2: Pour the mixture into the toilet bowl.
• Step 3: Let it be there until it starts to bubble up.
• Step 4: Once the bubble unclogs the dirt, flush to clear the bowl.
• Step 5: If the mixture bubble isn’t sufficient, pour boiling water to enhance the cleaning power, and then flush.

You may repeat the process once more if the job wasn’t done perfectly on the first attempt.

3.  Use a Toilet Brush

Obviously, rubbing the toilet bowl inside with a brush will feel irksome. But if you’ve run out of kitchen materials, it’s a typical way to go.

So, here’s how to do it:

• Step 1: Grab the brush handle tightly.
• Step 2: Push the bristled head down the toilet pipeline.
• Step 3: Pump it down and up for a while.
• Step 4: The pressure should unclog any clutter or dirt inside the line and clear your toile quickly.
• Step 5: Flush it 2-3 times once the clog is removed.

4.  DIY Bathroom Bomb

No real bomb, obviously. But it surely involves some chemical reaction. What we mean is that a bathroom bomb is a homemade toilet unclogging solution.

What it requires are baking soda, Epsom salt, and dishwashing detergent. And yes, some muffin liners too.

How to make it:

• Step 1: Mix ¼ cup of Epsom salt, 2 cups of baking soda, and 8 tablespoons of dishwashing detergent.
• Step 2: Pour the mixture into 3-4 muffin liners.
• Step 3: Let the mixture harden overnight.
• Step 4: Take those hardened muffins, also known as bathroom balls, and drop them into the toilet bowl.
• Step 5: Pour 3-4 cups of clear water and wait for 4-5 hours.
• Step 6: You’ll see the results as the tiny bombs start working to unclog the toilet pipeline.

5.  Use a Squirt Gun to Drain Toilet Bowl

This one’s the easiest tip. If you have a squirt gun, clearing the water or dirt clog inside your toilet will be a breeze.

Here’s how you should do it:

• Step 1: Plunge your squirt gun down the toilet’s deeper line.
• Step 2: Suck out most of the water and store it in a bucket.
• Step 3: Along with the water, other small dirt or grime should be sucked out, thereby, clearing your toilet.

It might not be the best way to unclog your toilet, but it’s something you can utilize in an emergency situation. After all, knowing alternative uses of such tools will always come in handy.

Final Thoughts

So, we’ve shared with you ten easy, cheap, and effective tips to deal with your clogged bathroom sink and toilet bowl. You can trust these methods to quickly get rid of dirty, stinky, and stained sinks and toilet bowls.

Just make sure the kitchen items we’ve shared like baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, detergent, etc., are mostly available during emergencies.

Don’t hesitate to call for professional help if you think you can’t handle the clogged sink and toilet situation. It’s always good to get expert help who can make the problems go away easily. 

Written by Billy Guteng. July 8, 2022

Billy was born in France, and has lived in multiple cities around the world ever since. He loves art, design and architecture and he supports the KUKUN team as a content provider.

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sonia_collin@yahoo.com(@sonia_collinyahoo-com)

A friend once used coke to unclog it, and if it’s true that you can melt a tooth in a week, maybe you can break up debris in a few hours.

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