Why Are My Drains Slow? The Real Causes (and What Not to Pour)

A slow drain is the plumbing version of a check-engine light. It almost never fixes itself, and the longer you ignore it, the more expensive the call gets. Here's what's usually going on inside a Marietta home's pipes.

Where slowness starts

• Kitchen sinks. Grease and food solids coat the inside of the trap and the line downstream. Hot water melts it through the trap, then it re-solidifies further down and narrows the pipe.
• Bathroom drains. Hair and soap combine into a soft plug that sits just past the pop-up. It's the most common shower slow-down we clear.
• Main line. When every drain in the house is slow at once, the blockage is past where the branches meet, often tree roots or a collapsed section of the main sewer.

What not to pour

• Grease and oil. Even with hot water and soap, it cools and sticks further down the line.
• Coffee grounds. They don't dissolve; they settle and pack.
• Flushable wipes. They don't break down like toilet paper and are a top cause of main-line clogs we clear in Cobb County.
• Chemical drain cleaners. They rarely clear a real clog, and they sit in the pipe eating at the metal or rubber. A plumber clearing the line afterward has to handle that chemical soup.

What actually helps

• A plunger or a small hand-crank auger clears most sink and tub clogs that sit near the opening.
• Pouring a full tea kettle of near-boiling water down a kitchen line once a week keeps grease from building up.
• A pop-up screen over the shower drain catches hair before it forms the plug.

When to call us

If more than one fixture is slow, the tub gurgles when you flush, or water comes back up the floor drain, the problem is in the main line. That needs cable clearing and, often, a camera inspection to see whether roots or a broken section are the cause. We clear it, show you the line, and quote any fix before we start.

Drains running slow? Call (770) 508-6073 or request a quote.