Taking good care of the drains in your Kansas City, MO home can prevent unexpected plumbing repairs, water damage, and frustrating backups. While plungers and store-bought drain cleaners may offer temporary relief, they rarely address the underlying causes of recurring clogs. With the right strategies and maintenance, you can keep your drains moving freely year-round. At Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®, we’re sharing the most common reasons drains clog and the most effective long-term solutions to fix them for good.

Dirty Drains

Everyday use naturally leads to buildup inside drain pipes. Over time, layers of debris collect on pipe walls and create sticky, narrow passageways that slow water flow. Even when you’re careful, common household substances contribute to this buildup, including:

  • Soap scum and detergents
  • Mucus and organic residue
  • Grease and cooking oils
  • Body oils and lotions
  • Hair and shaving debris

These materials form the perfect environment for biofilms, a mixture of bacteria, algae, and fungi that stick to pipe interiors. Biofilms contribute to foul odors and can trap even more debris, worsening clogs over time. Once pipes narrow enough, even small amounts of waste can trigger backups.

Schedule Professional Drain Cleaning Service

Professional drain cleaning removes buildup far more effectively than DIY methods. Kansas City homeowners with older plumbing, frequent cooks, or multiple residents benefit from scheduling drain cleaning annually. Homes with newer plumbing or minimal usage may require less frequent service, but cleaning drains whenever they begin to slow helps prevent major blockages.

Professional methods like hydro-jetting break through biofilms, grease, and sludge, restoring the original diameter of your drain pipes and dramatically improving flow.

Dispose of Grease and Oils Properly

Even small amounts of grease can cool and harden inside your drains. Instead of rinsing grease down the sink, allow it to cool in a heat-safe container and throw it in the trash. For large quantities of used cooking oil, such as from deep frying, look for a Kansas City–area cooking oil recycling or drop-off location.

Dirty Sewer Lines

Your home’s sewer line connects every drain, toilet, and water-using appliance. As a result, whatever enters your drains eventually travels to your sewer pipe—and so does any buildup from your plumbing system. Slow-degrading items flushed down toilets, such as paper towels, feminine products, wipes (even those labeled “flushable”), and cotton swabs, can easily lodge in sewer lines and cause partial or complete blockages.

Partial blockages cause slow drains throughout the house. A full blockage can force wastewater back up through the lowest drains in your home, often causing significant water damage.

Limit What You Flush

The only items that should ever be flushed are human waste and toilet paper. Even wipes marketed as “flushable” break down slowly and can accumulate in your sewer line. When in doubt, throw it out.

Schedule Regular Sewer Line Inspections

In Kansas City, where many neighborhoods have aging plumbing systems, sewer inspections every 18 to 24 months are recommended. If you’ve experienced backups before or have older cast-iron or clay sewer pipes, annual inspections may be needed. Sewer line cleaning removes buildup before it becomes a major blockage and helps identify developing problems early.

Foreign Objects

Foreign objects are one of the most preventable causes of clogged drains. Whether dropped accidentally or flushed out of curiosity, items like hair accessories, toys, toothbrushes, and jewelry can lodge in pipes and cause serious drain blockages.

Cover Your Drains

Install drain baskets or sieves in bathroom and kitchen drains. These low-cost tools catch hair and small items before they enter the plumbing system. They also reduce the amount of cleaning your drains require between professional services.

Childproof Your Toilets

If you have young children, childproof toilet locks can prevent flushed toys and other items. Young children often find flushing objects entertaining without understanding the consequences, and these incidents can lead to expensive repairs or even sewer line blockages.

Tree and Weed Roots

Tree root intrusion is one of the most common sewer line problems in Kansas City. The region’s dense clay soils can funnel roots toward areas of weakness in underground pipes. Older clay and cast-iron pipes are particularly vulnerable because small cracks or loose joints allow vapor and moisture to escape, attracting tree roots searching for water.

Once roots enter a sewer pipe, they flourish in the moist, nutrient-rich environment. They can expand rapidly, creating dense root masses that obstruct wastewater flow or even break the pipe apart.

Plant Responsibly

When planting new trees, keep them at least 10 to 15 feet away from sewer lines. Choose trees with less aggressive root systems and maintain your landscaping to prevent wild or invasive root growth that can reach your utilities.

Install Root Barriers

Root barriers installed between trees and sewer lines help protect underground plumbing. These thick, durable barriers redirect root growth and reduce the risk of intrusion. When combined with regular sewer inspections, root barriers offer excellent long-term protection.

Mineral Buildups

Kansas City’s water supply ranges from moderately hard to hard, meaning it contains elevated levels of calcium and magnesium. As this water flows through your plumbing system, minerals gradually separate from the water and form chalky deposits called limescale. Over time, limescale accumulates inside pipes, narrowing the waterway and creating rough surfaces that trap waste.

This issue is especially severe in homes with older cast-iron sewer pipes. Limescale buildup can reduce their internal diameter by half, making it easy for waste to snag and accumulate, leading to significant slowdowns or full backups.

Invest in a Water Softener

A whole-house water softener is one of the most effective ways to prevent mineral buildup. By removing hardness minerals from your water supply, a softener protects:

  • Your drain pipes
  • Your sewer line
  • Your fixtures and appliances
  • Your water heater

While hydro-jetting and mechanical rooter machines can remove some limescale, softening your water prevents new buildup and improves long-term plumbing performance.

Consider Sewer Pipe Replacement

If your sewer line is more than 40 years old, or made from cast iron or clay, buildup and corrosion may already be extensive. Replacing your sewer pipe offers a long-term solution that reduces the risk of recurring blockages, root intrusion, and structural failures. Sewer pipe replacement is especially beneficial for homes that have already experienced multiple backups or root problems.

Contact Us Today

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® proudly serves homeowners in Kansas City with expert drain cleaning, drain repair, sewer line inspection, and sewer cleaning services. We also install water softeners to help protect your plumbing system from mineral buildup. For long-term solutions to clogged drains, contact Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® today!