If your bathtub has backed up or doesn’t drain as quickly as you would like it to, don’t bother calling a plumber until you’ve done everything you can to try to fix the problem yourself. Unless it’s completely stopped, there’s no need to do anything crazy. For now, just try these solutions, and if they don’t work, you can then think about calling a professional.


Clean below the drain

First, remove the drain cover and shine a flashlight down into the drain. You’ll notice that there’s a criss-cross in the piping a few inches down. This is there in order to prevent things like wedding rings and other small objects from getting lost. It’s good to have it there, but it tends to gather hair and other debris over time. If you see anything caught down there, see if you can reach down and pull it out. If it’s a little bit too far down, use a bent clothes hanger to grab it.

Pull out deeper clogs

If your clog is deeper, you may be able to reach it with that bent clothes hanger. Just probe down into the drain with the hanger until you feel something that may be a blockage. Then, try to hook it and pull it out with your hanger. If the hanger doesn’t suffice, you might want to try a tool that is specially designed for this purpose. There are many good ones that you should be able to find at your hardware store.

Try boiling water

Make a nice, bit pot of boiling water and dump it into the top. Sometimes, the pressure of this hot water will clear clogs that normal water doesn’t get.

Try a plunger

Plug the tub and fill it with about six inches of water. Then, unplug it, wait a few seconds for some water to flow into the drain, place your plunger over the tub opening, and give it a few hard jerks. For extra suction, you might want to stuff a wet cloth into the secondary train that is used to capture overflowing water.

If you go through all of these suggestions and nothing works, then it might be time to call a plumber. You may want to try using chemical drain uncloggers, but these can actually do damage to the pipes, so use them at your own risk.