There I was standing in a couple inches of water while I took my shower even though the drain was open.
Yep! I had a clogged drain from my long hair.
It’s not only the water that is standing in the tub, but there was soap scum collecting around the tub too.
If you’re experiencing these things in your bath tub too, these are tall tell signs that your bathtub drain is clogged.
Here’s what I do to clean my bathtub drain without chemicals.
First you’ll need drain snake. I got mine from Wal-mart. Here’s a similar drain snake from Amazon. (my affiliate link)
These snakes are inexpensive and great to have on hand for regular drain cleaning.
The snake has little teeth on the sides that catch onto all the hair and gunk when placed in the drain.
You also might want rubber gloves depending on how clogged your drain is. There will probably be all kinds of gross gunk you don’t want to touch.
A small plastic bag and paper towels will also come in handy as you clean up the stuff that comes out of the drain.
If you can unscrew the top of your drain, that is best.
However, if it doesn’t unscrew, you can still push the snake down the drain as far as it will go.
Pull the snake back out. You’ll have a hunk of gunk on the end of it.
To get the sludge off the drain snake, turn a plastic grocery bad inside out and put your hand inside it like a glove.
Then pull the snake through the bag getting as much sludge and grime off.
There’s always a little more left on the snake, so I like to then use a paper towel to wipe off any that is left and place that in the trashcan.
Continue pushing the snake down the drain and pull up gunk until there is no more coming up.
At this point, your drain will be much more open and your water should be flowing down the drain.
However, you can take a step further by cleaning the drain with hot water, baking soda, and vinegar.
Pour hot water down the bathtub drain. This will help loosen up sludge that is left in the pipes.
Then sprinkle baking soda down the drain and pour vinegar down the drain as well. Allow it to sit for a few minutes.
This mixture will help break up the sludge even more. Allow it to bubble for a 10 minutes or so.
Finally, pour more hot water down the drain to rinse the baking soda and vinegar mixture down the pipes as one last clean out of the drain.
After you’ve finished all of these steps, your bathtub will be a mess. Spray it with your favorite cleaning spray and wipe clean with a cleaning clothe or sponge.
To maintain a clean drain, be sure to do this once a month.