Holiday Plumbing Disasters: A Homeowner's Guide

The holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. So much time and preparation goes into making everything perfect. Elaborate meals are cooked, gifts are purchased and wrapped, guest rooms are prepared and the front door thrown wide open. There is no greater joy then gathering with our loved ones during the holiday season.

Nothing can spoil that joy faster than a holiday plumbing disaster! A quartet of holiday horrors can turn the most festive family gathering into an embarrassing catastrophe. Here's how to deal with three of the most common holiday headaches: kitchen sink clogs, garbage disposal overload, and overflowing toilets.

Kitchen Sink Clogs

We spend the holiday season in the kitchen, preparing meals with and for our families and friends. Could you imagine anything worse – or more mortifying – than to have your kitchen sink back up with stinky, smelly water?

Clogged kitchen sinks happen when organic matter, including food, grease, hair, and soap scum, accumulates and becomes lodged in the pipes. Regular drain cleaning should be part of every home's regular maintenance routine. However, if it's been a while, the extra cooking and dishwashing of the holiday seasons can build up on top of any clogs that have been forming or collect and form a clog on their own.

If you can't dislodge the clog with some quick plunger work, it's time to call your Chicagoland plumber. They can quickly resolve the clog with professional grade chemicals and specialized tools, allowing you to get back to your holiday celebrations!

Garbage Disposal Overload

Garbage disposals are great at managing the scraps and debris families generate on an everyday basis. Scraping a few leftovers down the drain won't overwork your garbage disposal – but Thanksgiving dinner may present another situation entirely. Additionally, the holiday season also features some food items – pumpkin and squash, greasy, fatty skin from turkeys, ducks, and geese – that can gum your disposal up. Make life easy for yourself by scraping plates into the trash bin.

A garbage disposal that refuses to turn on or operates slowly and noisily may be overloaded. Hitting the reset button may alleviate the problem, but if not, it's time to call your Chicagoland plumber. Never, ever stick your hand into the garbage disposal – you can be seriously injured! When your garbage disposal refuses to drain, the problem is often a clog, in the trap or the line beyond. This is a job for your Chicagoland plumber.

Overflowing Toilets

It's a moment every homeowner dreads, that stomach churning moment when a guest emerges from the bathroom, hands waving, a panicked look upon their face. "There's something wrong with your toilet!"

The scene behind them? A rapidly overflowing toilet, with water and other less attractive substances cascading onto the floor. Toilets overflow when something clogs the line. This may be from your guests flushing inappropriate objects down the drain – baby diapers are a surprisingly common culprit, although sometimes younger guests send toys, cell phones and anything else they can get their hands on down the bowl – or it may be due to problems in the sewer lines under the ground, outside of your home. If you can not alleviate the problem with quick plunger work, call your Chicagoland plumber. They can perform a visual inspection to pinpoint exactly where the clog is located, and perform the needed sewer drain cleaning to get your plumbing back in order.