Basic Drain Maintenance Straight from Your Trusted Surrey and North Vancouver Drainage Experts

Slow draining sinks and toilets, foul odors, clogs – these are just a few of the many drainage problems that cause major headaches to Surrey and North Vancouver residents. However, it is only when these problems start to manifest themselves that homeowners begin to contemplate the importance of proper drainage system maintenance. In light of this, your reliable Surrey and North Vancouver drainage experts are giving out a few tips to help you out.

Prevention Can Go a Long Way

An ounce of prevention in drain maintenance can save you a lot of trouble and money. Stopping hair, debris, and foreign objects from slipping down your drainpipes can keep a great deal of clog and odor problems from bothering you and your family. You can do this by simply placing screens and strainers in each of your home's drains.

Dispose Items Properly

Kitchen sinks and toilets are not the proper destination of food residue, grease, cooking oil, tissue papers, and other sanitary products. Be disciplined enough to dispose of these items in their proper receptacles. Grease and other debris can stick to your pipes and harden, causing that much dreaded clogging and foul odor.

The Value of Hot Water

Hot water is one of your best tools when conducting drain maintenance. Pouring boiling hot water down your sink and drains can help dissolve debris buildup, especially grease buildups, in your pipes. While this may not be effective if you already have a major clog problem, it is very useful in preventing such clogs from forming in the first place.

Avoid Chemicals

Using chemical drain cleaners is a temporary fix that leads to bigger problems. While these cleaners can work, they can cause collateral damage, as well. Because of the corrosive substances found in chemical cleaners, they will not only dissolve clogs, but may also erode your pipes. Continuous usage of such cleaners can eventually lead to pipe bursts and other piping problems that could prove costlier in the long run.

At the core of it all, the best maintenance regimen you can do for your home is to seek help from professional North Vancouver and Surrey drainage experts like Milani. With their highly specialized knowledge and vast experience in drain maintenance and repair, they can easily assist you with any issues you might have with your drainage system.

How to Ensure That Your Vancouver Drain Tile System Works Efficiently

When winter rolls around in Vancouver, expect the rains to do the worst to your home. Homeowners should ensure that their houses are protected from the ravages of the weather, especially from the damage rainwater can inflict. Rainwater can easily seep into the foundations of a home or leak into the basement, causing extensive damage. To keep this water from accumulating where it could compromise the home's foundations and other structural elements, you need an effective Vancouver drain tile system.

A drain tile system is designed to collect and redirect water seepage away from a house—sometimes with the aid of a sump pump—to direct water into a yard, natural drainage area, or a public drainage system. Drain tiles consist of perforated pipes, usually made of PVC, with small openings on one side. To prevent the pipes from filling with debris carried by rainwater, some contractors fit the pipes with a filter system using nylon or other materials.

This type of drainage system can be installed along the interior perimeter of your foundation or the exterior of your house. Exterior drain tile systems are considered more effective than interior drain tile systems in preventing water intrusion into basements. Both methods require digging a trench, and setting the pipes in a gravel bed around the foundation.

If you have an existing drain tile system but constantly experience flooding in your basement or your yard when it rains, your system is likely clogged with debris. If this problem isn't attended to immediately, it can lead to water backing up into your home. The problem can be easily resolved if addressed at an early stage, by hiring drainage and sewer maintenance services of reputable companies like Milani Plumbing, Heating, and Drainage.

Vancouver drain cleaning professionals use high pressure drain cleaning methods to rid drain tiles of debris. Sometimes known as water jet cleaning, this process uses pressurized water through a sewer snake, a flexible cable that can be threaded through roots, soil, and debris. This cable is inserted into a collection point and is then moved through the end of the line to loosen the debris in the drain tiles.

If using a sewer snake doesn't work, drain cleaning specialists may need to cumbersomely dig out the drain tiles to clear them of accumulated debris. They dig a channel tracing the tiles' location, extract them, and then clean out the blockage.