Keep in mind that most sink overflows happen because of a clogged drain. To avoid a sink overflow and water damage to your kitchen or bathroom, you need to keep the drain clear. Water needs to flow down the drain to the sewers. Here are a few tips to keep your drains clear and eliminate clogged drains and water damage:

1 – Scrape food scraps from dishes, if food scraps and particles accumulate, they can form a solid clog that may cause a sink overflow and water damage.

2 – Keep fat, grease and oil from your sink, they may look fluid but these oils can solidify in your pipes and a clog.

3 – Hair can be another big problem, try to keep hair out of your drains. Use a screened basket to catch hair from your showers and bathroom sinks. Hair can stick to the drain and clog the pipes too.

4 – Keep kids from playing with small items in the sink, small toys or cloth can plug drains easily. Action figures, small dolls, and cars are very difficult to clear from a sink drain.

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Dealing with a Sink Overflow

If and when a sink overflow does happen, you can try and apply some quick fixes to save yourself some money that you would otherwise have to pay a licensed plumber. Follow the procedure below to troubleshoot a clogged sink that threatens to flood your home:

• Shut off the faucet that feeds water to your sink.
• Use a pitcher or any large container that you can find to get as much water out of your sink as possible. Dispose this water outdoors or let it run off in another sink or toilet. Obviously, this water is unsanitary and you wouldn’t want to use your bath tub drain to get rid of it.
• Use a plunger to try and clear the clog. Push it up and down over your drain and see if the water starts subsiding like it normally does.
• If the clog doesn’t clear, it may be time to do some mini-plumbing work yourself. Take a bucket and place it under your sink’s drain trap. That’s the J-shaped pipe under your sink.
• Loosen the fittings until your drain trap comes off. Empty the water in it to the bucket.
• Use a wire or a plumbing snake to clear the drain trap of whatever clog is in it. You can also run hot water through it to loosen fats, oil and grease that may be clinging inside.
• Once the drain trap clears, run tap water through it to make sure fluids can pass through with no obstructions again.
• Re-install the drain trap and let tap water run through your sink for a few minutes. If water doesn’t stagnate in your sink, you’re good to go.