What To Do When A Sink Overflows

10/9/2020 (Permalink)

Sink overflows are easy to avoid, but not as easy to clean up.

When a sink overflows, it can cause a considerable amount of water damage to your home. The wet mess left behind can also be a headache to clean up. Here, we'll go over why sinks overflow, what to do when they do, and how to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Causes of Sink Overflows

Clogged Drain

When you have a clogged drain from food scraps, hair, or grease and leave the water running, you're likely to run into a big mess.

Clogged Sink Overflow

Some sinks have overflow holes that help to drain it before the water makes it over the sink bowl. They also help water go down the drain faster. This is mostly common with bathroom sinks, and unfortunately not common with kitchen sinks.

What To Do When It Happens

1. Turn off the sink.
2. Grab any towels or mops to start cleaning up standing water on the floor.
3. Set up any fans or dehumidifiers you may have in the affected area to help it dry.
4. Empty out the full sink with a bucket or large bowl.
5. Call a plumber or clear the sink clog yourself. You can do this by trying to run the garbage disposal, using a plunger, using a chemical like drain-o to clear the clog, or try pouring half a cup of salt into the drain followed by a pot of boiling hot water.
6. Depending on damages, call your insurance company to file a claim. You'll want to do this if the water penetrated the floor and is affecting the ceilings of other levels.
7. Call a water damage restoration company to ensure your home is properly dried out.

What Damage Can A Sink Overflow Cause?

The damages that result from water overflowing from a sink can be considerable, especially if the issue was going unnoticed for a while.

• Water damage to floor. If water gets underneath tile, laminate, or any other flooring type you have in the affected area it can reach the subfloor and leave it wet. Over time, this will weaken the structure of your home as the moist floor joists begin to rot out.
• Damage to rooms below. If water does damage to the floor the overflow occurred in, the water is likely to leak down to the room below causing water damage to the ceiling. If the overflow goes unnoticed for an extended amount of time the leak may even damage the floor below or even cause flooding.
• Mold or mildew growth. When you just clean up visible water with towels and a mop but do nothing else, you're much more likely to experience mold growth. When an area is exposed to moisture, mold can begin to grow in as little as 48 hours when the water damage is not addressed.

How To Prevent Sink Overflows

• Do not put grease down drains.
• Try to keep hair out of drains.
• Don't put food scraps down the drain.
• Properly use the garbage disposal.
• Get a drain strainer to prevent scraps from going down the drain.
• Clean out your sink overflow to help it drain faster and prevent it from backing up.

Flooding From Sink Overflow? Call SERVPRO - 860-388-1776

SERVPRO of Old Saybrook is a 24/7 damage restoration company specializing in fire damage, water damage, mold remediation and COVID-19 disinfection. We're here to make any disaster "Like it never even happened."