How to Unclog a Bathroom Sink

How to remove hair from the bathroom sink stopper and unclog the sink

BATHROOMS

1/28/20243 min read

Generally when you experience a sink with the water building up in it the culprit is hair that has built up in the sink. I will show you the easiest and most efficient way to remove large clumps of hair even when chemical drain cleaner may not be able to clear the clog.

1. Remove pop up stopper metal clamp underneath sink

The metal clamp where the red arrow is pointing to above is what needs to be removed in order to remove the ball and socket lower portion of the pop up stopper. You can do this by pressing the long ends together and then removing this clamp in order to take the rest of the stopper apart. Doing this you will remove the long ball rod from the insertion hole as well and remember which hole you removed this from in order to place it back in the same hole when you are done.

2. Unscrew the plastic lock nut

Unscrew this plastic lock nut by hand counterclockwise and then move the nut down the rod to expose the plastic ball inside the sink attached to the rod.

3.Remove the ball rod

Remove the ball rod by pulling backwards. At this point don't be surprised if you pull hair stuck onto the ball rod portion. Many times you may have to replace the actual ball rod due to rust on the portion which is inside of the sink. You can buy a new ball rod here.

4.Remove pop up stopper from top of sink

Remove the pop up stopper from the top of sink by pulling upwards, this is the part where the hair would generally be stuck to, you can remove stuck on hair with a paper towel or gloves. Replace the pop up top portion with the flat part facing the back of the sink. This will ensure that the rod portion after the ball will insert into the hole of the pop up portion on the surface of the sink.

5.Look into sink for extra hair

Now you can look into the sink and check for any extra hair that would cause clogs, you can then remove this with a long nose plier or other tool on hand. Most of the hair generally would have been removed when removing hair from the pop up stopper.

6.Replace ball rod assembly and test sink

Replace the ball rod assembly by inserting the ball rod under the sink into the open bottom hole of the plastic pop up, to test the correct position you can pull up on the plastic pop up portion above the sink and if it brings up the ball rod assembly down below it should be inserted into the hole correctly. You can now make sure the ball is snug against the open pipe, then hand tighten plastic nut. Place the metal clamp onto the ball rod, then insert the rod into the vertical pop up stopper closure mechanism, and bring the other side of the metal clamp onto the end of the ball rod.

DISCLAIMER: This article contains affiliate links, if you click on one of the product links in my article, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Please see below for the full explanation video