Bellingham WA Home Inspector (King of the House): Slow Drains

One issue, usually not serious, that can be missed by an inspector unless quite a bit of water is run, is the slow drain. In most homes the slow drain at bath sinks is caused by hair. More often than not, if the P-trap is cleaned, the sink will drain okay. Kitchen sinks often have food blockages. Like water pressure, different people have different expectations for drains, which makes it harder for the inspector.

Tubs can be more difficult to assess, especially if they are at a second story with no access from below. Again, hair can be a problem. As home inspectors, we call out the slow drain but do not determine the solution. If traps cannot be accessed, fixes range from using a "snake" to clean the drain, to hiring a professional service that cleans drains, to opening up the ceiling below the tub if there is a more serious issue. While it is rare, a slow drain can be harder to fix than is at first expected.  I did an inspection and all drains at one side of the home were slow and one was totally blocked. It ended up that there was a foreign object in the main ABS run to the stack at that side of the home. While not that hard to fix ultimately: A plumber isolated the problem and cut into the ABS pipe and removed the blockage, it was  a more complex problem than what most homeowners want to deal with themselves. 

How slow can you go?

Thanks for looking.

www.kingofthehouse.com

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham home inspector