Quick answer
Take out the basin waste plug (a click-clack unscrews, a lever type is released from behind) and hook the hair out of the pipe with a 2 € plastic hair hook. If it still drains badly, put a bucket underneath, unscrew the cup of the bottle trap by hand, empty it, wash it and refit it. Finish with hot water and washing-up liquid down the drain and down the overflow.
What you need
- Small bucket or bowl and a cloth
- Rubber gloves
- Plastic hair hook with teeth (Wolfpack or Bricodepot, 2-4 €)
- Torch
- Flat screwdriver for a lever-type waste
- Bottle brush for the trap
- Concentrated washing-up liquid
- Cleaning vinegar (1 litre, 1-2 €)
- 32 mm conical trap washer in case the old one is hard (Jimten or Wirquin, 1-2 €)
- Silicone hair catcher for the drain (2-4 €)
- New 32 mm bottle trap if the old one is broken (5-10 €)
Step by step
- 1
Take out the waste plug
Put a cloth in the bottom of the basin. On a click-clack waste, press to open it and turn the plug anticlockwise until it comes out. On a lever waste, release the nut on the horizontal rod behind the tap and lift the plug out from above.
- 2
Hook out the hair
Push the plastic hook down the drain to the bottom, twist a couple of turns and pull up slowly. A wad of hair and soap will come out. Repeat until it comes out clean. Put the wad in the bin, not down the toilet.
- 3
Test and move on to the trap if needed
Run the tap: if it drains fast, skip to step 6. If it is still slow, put the bucket under the bottle trap and unscrew the lower cup by hand (turn anticlockwise looking from below).
- 4
Clean the trap cup
Empty the sludge into the bucket and look for objects (rings, caps). Wash the cup with hot water, washing-up liquid and the bottle brush. Check the conical washer: if it is hard or distorted, replace it.
- 5
Refit the trap by hand
Screw the cup back on with the washer properly seated, tightening by hand, firmly, no tools. Run the tap and watch for drips. If it drips, loosen, reseat the washer and tighten again.
- 6
Clean the overflow and the rod
Pour a glass of vinegar down the overflow hole and another down the drain, wait 30 minutes and rinse with hot water. Clean the limescale off the waste rod with the same vinegar and an old toothbrush.
- 7
Refit the waste and fit the hair catcher
Screw the click-clack plug back on or secure the rod on the lever type and check it opens and closes. Place the silicone hair catcher over the drain.
Where a basin blocks and how to tell without taking it apart
A basin drain has four sections: the waste (the click-clack or lever plug with its threaded body), the waste tail down to the trap, the bottle trap (the plastic cup under the basin that holds water against smells) and the wall pipe, 32 or 40 mm, to the stack. Hair catches on the rod or the crosspiece of the waste and grows downwards like a tail, trapping soap and toothpaste. It is the typical blockage and it is in plain view as soon as you pull the waste out.
The second spot is the bottom of the trap cup. That is where limescale, soap residue, razor blades, toothpaste caps, earrings and rings settle. A bottle trap that has not been cleaned in 10 years has two fingers of grey sludge closing the passage. The third, less common, is the wall pipe: when the basin drains badly and so do the bidet or shower, the blockage is beyond the trap and needs a snake.
The quick test: remove the waste plug and look with a torch. If you see hair, it is the waste. If the waste is clean but the water does not go down, it is the trap. If the trap is clean and it still does not drain, it is the wall pipe. And if the water sits in the basin but you get a smell when the shower empties, the problem is shared and it is worth calling us.
Mistakes when unblocking a basin: chemicals, spanners and the overflow
The first is using chemicals with the basin full of water. The gel dilutes, never reaches the hair clog (caustic soda does not dissolve hair bound with limescale well) and when you take the trap apart it runs onto your hands. If the trap is one of the old thin plastic ones, the chemical makes it brittle too. On a basin, chemicals are almost never needed: hair is pulled out, not dissolved.
The second is tightening the trap nuts with a spanner when you refit it. They are plastic and seal with a conical washer: hand tight, firm, and that is it. With a spanner you strip the thread and the trap drips inside the vanity unit. Third mistake: forgetting the overflow, the hole at the top of the basin. Soap and mould get in there and, if it is not cleaned, you get a smell and cloudy water when you fill the basin.
And the fourth, very common with click-clack wastes: unscrewing the plug and losing the small screw from the rod, so the plug no longer closes afterwards. Work over a cloth in the bottom of the basin so nothing falls down the drain, and if the rod is stiff with limescale, a splash of vinegar before you turn it.
When to call a professional
Call when the water still does not go down after cleaning the waste and the trap (the blockage is in the wall pipe), when the trap is damaged and drips when refitted, when the basin has a concealed trap in the wall with no access, or when several drains in the bathroom run slow at the same time. Also if, when you remove the waste, you find the threaded body broken or calcified: it is replaced complete, with a new seal, and takes 30 minutes.
Unblocking a basin costs 70-120 € including call-out, and 110-180 € if the snake machine has to go down the wall pipe. Replacing a trap or a click-clack waste is included in the same price if done with the unblocking. Prices in how much drain unblocking costs and the service in drain unblocking. We arrive in 20-45 minutes in Valencia, Alicante, Torrevieja and Benidorm.
If the basin drains but the tap drips or the waste will not close, that is a job for our plumber. Local drain unblocking pages for Alicante and Elche.
Limescale and hard water in coastal basins
Water in the Valencian Community has a hardness of 30 to 50 French degrees. That limescale sticks to the waste rod and the bottom of the trap and forms a crust that hair and soap cling to far better. That is why a basin in Alicante or Torrevieja needs its trap cleaned every year and one in a soft-water area every five. If you see white on the waste when you pull the plug out, it is limescale.
What works: once a month, a glass of cleaning vinegar down the drain and another down the overflow, 30 minutes, then hot water. A silicone hair catcher over the waste (2-4 € at Leroy Merlin or Bricodepot) traps 90 % of the hair. And in second homes, before you lock up, fill the trap with water and a spoonful of oil so it does not evaporate and smells do not rise from the stack.
Related guides
The shower tray has the same hair problem but a different kind of trap: we explain it in how to unblock a shower drain. If you want to try baking soda and vinegar first, see when it works in unblocking drains with baking soda and vinegar. And if the basin tap is failing too, how to replace a basin tap.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to have a professional unblock a basin?
Between 70 and 120 € including call-out. If the blockage is in the wall pipe and the snake machine is needed, between 110 and 180 €. Replacing the waste or the trap in the same visit adds no extra call-out. Fixed price beforehand and a 6-month written guarantee.
How do I unblock a basin without taking the trap apart?
Remove the waste and run the hair hook down: in 7 out of 10 basins the clog is there and the trap does not need touching. If that does not work, the trap cup unscrews by hand in a minute and nothing else needs taking apart.
Why does the basin smell even though it drains fine?
Either the overflow has mould and soap built up, or the trap has dried out after weeks with the home unused. Vinegar down the overflow and a minute with the tap running sort it. If the smell comes back within days, the trap may have a small leak that empties it.
Can I use a chemical unblocker on the basin?
You can, but it is almost never necessary and it damages old traps. Hair bound with limescale does not dissolve well in caustic soda; it comes out with the hook. If you do use one, never with the basin full of water, never mixed with another product, and rinse with plenty of water before taking anything apart.
How often should the basin trap be cleaned?
On the coast, with hard water, once a year. It is a 10-minute job: unscrew the cup, empty, wash and refit. With a hair catcher over the waste and a glass of vinegar a month, you can stretch it to every two or three years.