Plumbing - currently a blocked plughole

[Yorkshire Andy]

I favour a 7mm socket or jublie screwdriver

[Yorkshire Andy]

Double post

[grenfell]

For most blocked basins I find I can get away without any tools. Most are plastic and will unscrew by hand allowing the u bend to be removed and that is where most of the blockages are to be found. In the kitchen it's often a build up of grease and in the bathroom it seems to be more often a build up of hair. Cleaning out the u bend or bottle trap normally sorts out the problem . Just remember when cleaning the bend not to tip it down the sink , I kid ye not I have seen that done . Sometimes a pair of pipe grips are needed but it is rare for plastic to need much more force. Metal wastes are nowhere near as common as they were but even those just need the grips or usually two pairs.
I have used a " sink hole unblocker" fluid which according to the label seems to be basically sulphuric acid on a blockage that was in a particularly awkwardly placed pipe and that worked very well.
Edit

Just checked and it's called Dam Buster and is made by someone called the Wiseman Group

[Arzosah]

Thanks folks! I've ordered the stuff now, but I left it alone till this morning, and water is definitely finding its way through again, just with fiddling around and two lots of soda crystals, so I've chucked another lot of soda crystals down there, and I'll flush it with hot water in a bit.

I was wondering if plastic fittings could be undone by hand grenfell, absolutely. But bearing in mind that I can't open ordinary bottles of sauces etc without one of those silicon thingies that provide extra grip, and I can't open childproof bottle tops at all (I have to make a hole in the side of bleach bottles, for instance, and pour it out through there ) its probably better to have the tool than not.

[Arzosah]

Last lot of soda crystals chucked down there this morning, I've just put hot water there, and its flowing freely might still undo the bottle trap next week when that kit arrives - there's got to be more gunk down there that I can shift.

Am also going to do the sink downstairs - the "pebble" bit doesn't come out of that one, unlike the one I've just fixed, so if *that* got gunked up, it would be a bit more problematic. Maintenance, and all that **happy dance**

[Decaff]

Yayyy good news!!

For the downstairs sink where you can't get the pebble bit out, I would use drain cleaner every month or so, just to remove soap buildup from the pipes. This is my main problem with my pipes, plus being in a flat the drainage is never as good as being in a house as they all go down the same pipe, through the the flat below, through to the bottom then into the ground. If the bottom flat gets bunged up it slowly affects the rest of us...

I don't however use bleach in my home, can't stand the smell of it and am very wary of it being around my mog-splosh. Safer not to have it I thought.

[grenfell]

Go on , I'm either going to be very embarrassed or sound very dim but what's a " mog-splosh ?

[Hamradioop]

My guess is a cat called splosh.

[cpslashm]

It may be worth having a container to put under the trap when you take it off.....

My potential problems are the bath and the shower - both built-in and the traps are unreachable!

Why don't builders/fitters think of these things?

[grenfell]

Why don't builders/fitters think of these things?

Far too much effort is spent in design on aesthetics than practicality . Smooths sleak surfaces are seen as more desirable ( by some at least) than visible pipe work .
In a similiar vein I was recently working in a house at the same time as the plumber when I heard some , ahem, colourful language coming from the bathroom. Seems the nice new toilet bowl is one where the seat needs to be fitted before the thing is plumbed in , which of course the plumber hadn't done meaning it had to come off the wall again. And so it would be for maintainence , just bad design.