What Products Can Cause Drain Plugs in Your Home
The everyday household products most likely to cause drain plugs and blockages, and how to avoid them.
Many blocked drains are caused by ordinary household products that seem harmless going down the sink or toilet but build up into solid plugs further along the pipe.
Fats, oils and grease
Cooking fat and oil are liquid when hot but solidify as they cool inside the pipe, coating the walls and trapping other debris. Over repeated pours this creates a thick plug that can block a kitchen waste pipe entirely.
Even small amounts poured down regularly add up, which is why kitchen drains are among the most common call outs we attend.
Wipes and sanitary products
Wipes marketed as flushable, along with sanitary products and cotton wool, do not break down like toilet paper. They tangle together and combine with grease further along the drain to form dense blockages, often referred to as fatbergs when they occur in larger shared sewers.
Household and garden products
- Coffee grounds and food scraps put down the kitchen sink
- Hair from showers and basins, which binds with soap scum
- Cotton buds, dental floss and plasters
- Cement, plaster or paint residue rinsed down a drain
- Leaves and soil washed into external gullies
Why these products cause repeat blockages
Individually, most of these items would pass through a drain without issue. The problem comes from repeated small amounts building up in the same section of pipe, often at a bend or a change in pipe diameter where debris naturally collects.
This is why a drain that has been unblocked once can block again in the same place a few weeks later if the underlying build up has not been fully cleared, which is where high pressure jetting or a CCTV survey can help identify the cause.
If a blockage has already formed
Once a drain is blocked, avoid pouring anything else down it and contact a professional rather than repeatedly trying to force it through. Our engineers offer drain unblocking and CCTV drain surveys across London and Essex, with a 24 hour emergency call out service for blockages that cannot wait.