You Must Zip-it!

Betcha you sign that song for the rest of the day! You're welcome. You are even more welcome for what is next. If you have a weak stomach, you may want to stop reading now. But seriously, this will save you money on a plumber for sure! (And no, I am not getting paid for my opinion. This is my totally unbiased experience.)

So I do not think that the drain to our bathtub has been cleaned in years. It is an older house, so I was chalking that up to why our tub usually held about 3-4 inches of water when you shower. Or it drains really slow after a bath, thus leaving a lovely scum buildup. Seriously, we could scrub it and a day or two later it would look like we never did. Nasty! Just to keep it real (and personal), here is a good example. I shed a lot, so my hair catches on the drain all the time too. Anyway, gross, I know.

Enter this guy. The Zip-it. You can get one for $2 at WalMart. They say "one-time use" but I also used this on our bathroom sink after the rub and it still worked. Nothing looked different. So I washed it and saved it for another occasion! The one-time thing is probably for people who can't bear to clean it.

 I had to take our drain cover off, but that was super easy. Just a matter of unscrewing the screw.

 This is where I had to put a little muscle into it at first. I had to figure out which way the pipe went. You would think straight down, but this clearly is not always the case. Ours goes toward the front! Once the zip-it met the blockage, I had to push really hard to feed it all the way in. I was scared it was getting stuck in the pipe and then we would really have to call a plumber. But it didn't! Make sure you push it all the way in...

And then pull out slowly. Reason number one, so that it does not break off part of the blockage and leave most of it. Reason number two, splatter. Ew! The first time I pulled it out wasn't so bad. I knew I must not have pushed it far enough, because it clearly did not fix the problem. So back in for round two.

 A MUCH large wad of hair and funk came out. And it smelled bad!

 I went back in a couple more times and got some smaller wads, but that was definitely the worst. I put the tub back together and tested to see if it worked. For the first time that I have ever seen, our tub gets the little drain tornadoes! It actually unclogged the whole thing!

 Here's to hoping that it stays unclogged. But now I know what to do if not! No more plumber! You should try it. Seriously. Sorry if I grossed anyone out!