The kitchen is the de facto nerve centre of every home, particularly if you have a family of food lovers. However this frequent use means you need to pay extra attention to cleaning and maintaining your fittings and fixtures. In this article, we will look at some general maintenance tips to keep your plumbing working at it’s best. The kitchen sink is on of the things in your house that is most likely to need repairs and maintenance. Washers will wear out with use, and drains will get blocked. Fortunately, the kitchen sink is also the easiest thing to fix once you know a few basics!

Washers are very easy to fix. You will need the following supplies: Plumbers tape, Pipe wrench or spanner set replacement washers. Start by locating and turning off the mains water supply to your home. If in an apartment, you may need to consult your landlord before disconnecting your neighbors water while they are having a hot shower! Once you have turned off the mains water, remove the top of the tap fitting. How you do this will depend on the type of tap, but usually you need to lever up the small insert on top of the tap. This will reveal a screw that you can undo to remove the tap. Other taps have a large hexagonal fitting at the base – these can be simply unscrewed with your pipe wrench. Once removed, you should be able to identify the washer. These usually look like a white plastic shaft, with a flat section on the end of the shaft and a rubber ring. Make sure you match up with the correct model of washer. Replace the washer and reassemble the tap, and you are good to go!

Blocked drains are another common kitchen problem. These are often caused by food scraps accumulating in the U bend of the sink. Of course, the best solution to this is to use a drain guard to stop debris getting washed down the drain. However if you have an existing problem, there are a couple of things you can do about it.

First, try to flush the blockage through. A plunger will work surprisingly well on it’s own, and a drain cleaning solution can also help to break down the blockage if it is organic matter. If this doesn’t work, you will need to remove the U bend under the sink. Place a basin underneath (you don’t want to forget this step) and unscrew the large PVC nuts holding the U bend in place. Now you can simply empty out the U bend into your basin. Replace the pipe and secure the nuts firmly, and test the sink by running some water through with the basin still in place.

Basic plumbing such as changing a washer can be done easily by the home handyman. For more complex jobs, such as installing new sinks or converting a standard dual tap to a wall mount kitchen faucet, you might find a professional will save you a lot of time and do a neater job too.