I had a similar issue in a 50 year old house I tried augering it myself but it was disgusting and didn’t work – You just have to know when to call out a pro. They opened the plumbing access from outside the house augered it with a 100 foot auger – and the problem was cleared out (all within 1/2 an hour).

I agree with the people who said to remove the cover on the drain (the plate of the stopper) and try a long snake–I’m not really sure what the zip-it is like, but in my older house I had a clogged bathtub that only cleared up after using a 25 foot snake/auger. Gross, but it worked.

We try to be chemical free (or really close to it) for as many things as possible. But about a month ago, the drain slowed. (and if I had been smart I would have started with the boiling water RIGHT THEN!) within a few days, nothing was moving and we tried every green solution we could think of. As a last ditch to calling the plumber, we used a bottle of Liquid Plumber and a few hours later – totally clear. Now we try and maintain it better so hopefully we dont have to go chem extreme again.

My husband and I had a similar problem in our old house. We always solved it using Drain-O. I did send my dad the link to your post and ask for his opinion (he is a plumber) and he said:
If it is just like this one with the flip handle on the overflow, it has a spring in it that is full of hair and grease. You have to take the overflow top off and pull the spring out and clean it, then pull the drain plug out, put the top overflow back in, adjust the drain to hold water and that should do it. Or call a service plumber and let him take 20 minutes to do it…(about 125.00)
Hope this helps you!!!

We had a clogged pipe in our laundry room right behind the washer machine. Resulted in a huge mess and the water backed up all over the floor! Any how, after trying a wet vac over the pipe opening and an auger/snake we were about to call the plumber when on as a last ditched effort decided to try Kleer Drain that we had seen the HD. Looks something like a short pogo stick and it shoots carbon dioxide cartridges down the drain to blast the clog. It makes a LOUD bang, but it worked! My husband used all 4 cartridges, but truthfully I think by the 2nd or 3rd it was unclogged– he was having a little too much fun with his new toy.

Draino hair remover………recommended by a worker at Home Depot and it solved our problem.

DRAINO! I know you want to be chemical free, but you also want to be able to use your shower without standing in ankle deep water… It really does work every time!

It looks like you have a plunger style stopper. Scroll down to the “plunger tub drains” how-to on this link:
http://lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/RepTubDrn.html#7

You might have to really pull to get the plunger and linkage out, clean them up, then do SEVERAL rounds of baking soda/vinegar with a 1:2 ratio (more vinegar), followed by a kettle-full of boiling water. That should do the trick, especially since you pulled that gnarly gunk out already.

My reply probably isn’t the greatest thing to hear. We had a very similar problem (our house is about 50 yrs old too). We tried everything! Nothing worked, so my husband actually had to redo all the plumbing underneath. Not very fun! But, it works GREAT now!

OMG!OMG! I was saying it with you at the same time but I would look away. lol Everytime I would peek, you were still showing that. lol OMG!

We had some horrible draining issues in our studio when we first moved in. I came up with trying to use our WetDry ShopVac and it worked amazingly!

We took the drain cover out of the bathtub, created a seal on the plumbing system (a person at every drain in the house, compressing with a washcloth) and set the ShopVac to blow out. The entire system was cleared out within a few seconds.

Our bathtub has finally started getting clogged again (blame my thick curly hair), so we’re going to do this soon.

If you don’t know anyone with a WetDry ShopVac, I think they’re also available to rent at some stores.

Good to know that wasn’t your hairball Sherry. That was a nasty video.

I’ll tell you what always clears our drains… in fact, my husband and I do it as a preventative measure twice a year.

We use a drain cleaning bladder. You get the right size for your drain, hook it to your hose, and clear out the drain. FYI.. be sure the entire rubber bladder is in the drain before turning the water on. My husband tried it once with part of the rubber sticking out and it had “explosive” results.

Here is a link to one on amazon.com but they are cheaper at home depot. We’ve never purchased one online. They are reusable too, no hurting the environment, etc. Give it a try.

http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Products-332-Cleaning-Attachment/dp/B000KKOZ6A/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_text_b

We always use a type of drain cleaner that comes in a black bottle, sealed in a plastic bag. It practically has a skull and crossbones on it.

Use that and it will be gone. Doesn’t matter if you have an entire body stuffed in those pipes, the black bottle will dissolve it.

We just rented a snake, the industrial kind, from Home Depot. For $25.00, we snaked two slow shower drains, and a sink. Then we leant it to a neighbor. Cheap and effective.

Bleach. Not environmentally friendly I know, but a gallon down the drain every 6 months has kept our tub blissfully clog-free.

This may not help because you have tried all of these things separately but we have old plumbing in our house and two girls with very long hair so we need to try these tricks once a month. What we do:
1: Baking soda / vinegar trick
2. After 30 seconds poor BOILING not hot water down the drain
3. Plunge, plunge, plunge

This always works and the two times it didn’t we used drano crystals. They are not nice for the environment so we avoid them but in two years of living here we needed to use them twice.

Hope this helps!

Yuck…this sort of situation definitely makes a person love their house just a little less!!
Unfortunately, this same situation happened to us, but in our kitchen sink! ew.
We tried a bunch of things also and finally ended up calling in a professional (make sure you shop around for quotes! I originally called the guy that had his card taped to our garbage disposal – 2x the price of another guy I called!). Turned out that the clog was all the way back to the street level – no wonder our snake wouldn’t work!
Good luck YHL!

Go in the basement or crawlspace and see if you can take the trap off. There might be a clog in there or at least you might be able to get the snake farther in than through the tub drain. Or you can see where the tub drain meets the toilet (should be close) and maybe figure out something from there.

I would guess it has to be in the tub line if the toilet and sink nearby are OK. Unless the lower volume of water from those 2 are just sitting in the pipes and you can’t tell they’re clogged.

I saw something recently on flylady.net called the Hey Tom Clog Cannon that gets clogs out with forced air-no chemicals! They also have a YouTube video!

You could try the “Hey Tom Clog Cannon”…haven’t personally tried it but it looks interesting anyway. :)

http://www.flylady.net/pages/flyshop_cc.asp

I think the baking soda thing only works as a preventative measure- you have to do it every month or so to keep the drains clean.

If you do call a professional, remember to not seem desperate. A lot of companies make a LOT of money off of people who are desperate and need it fixed yesterday.

We had a similar situation and used an entire bottle of liquid plumber, Problem solved. I’m actually a little surprised you didn’t try that already. (I hope that doesn’t sound snarky…I don’t mean for it to!)

I have been on the road and am just getting caught up on the blog. I know you fixed the problem at this point, but wanted to add my two cents. I had a similar problem and did just what Jessica’s dad suggested and the problem was fixed! Not my hair on the spring as I had only been in the house a couple of months at that point. At least I, and you too, know what to do to fix it now. Easy also!

Yah – I can’t wait for the details. I have a bathroom sink that is doing the exact same thing and I am stumped. Cant afford a plumber right now, so spill the beans :-)

I know it’s been fixed already…..however…

Drano Max Gel Clog Remover. Pour it down, leave for 15 minutes…. I live in an older home, I use this stuff once every 60 days to keep things draining quickly. Cheapest at Target. It’s the red bottle.

http://www.drano.com/

So glad you all figured out a way to unclog your drain. My boyfriend and I used the zip-it and it worked- similar to the guys experience in the video only our hair ball wasn’t as long. However it was still disgusting and very smelly.

Fun stuff!

Glad you got your problem solved…we had a similar problem and a plumber friend of ours suggested that we not waste money by buying Liquid Plumr and the like but instead pour plain bleach down the drain (probably not healthy for the environment, I guess), followed after about 10 minutes by hot water. It worked after nothing else did.

We live in a rental built in 1950 and have this drain problem from time to time in the shower. My husband works for a Hardware store, so he brought home Floweasy Drain opener. I will warn you, poor it down the drain and you guys take Burger out for the day. Its powerful.

I have REALLLY long hair, its down to my hips. I have to clean the drain 3-4 times while showering to keep water flowing. I have lots of back up issues, my trick…SALT. wait 5-10 minutes the flush with boiling water. i haven’t tried it in standing water over an inch so not sure that it would have helped with a ton of water.

that video makes me want to throw up….ewww

Thank GOD That wasn’t your hairball!!! That was by far the most disgusting video ever!! He said “it smells like death”, hahah Oh my, I love your blog to death. That had me laughing out loud.

‘Oh no we di’innnt’ hahaha I laughed for 5 min after reading that! You have to hurry up and tell us what worked because I have water standing in my extra bath room but AS I TYPE!! Help!

spill the beans, youngsters! the bathroom sink is at a dead standstill as I type…

In 24 years in the same house (built 43 years ago) we have had our share of plumbing issues. We’ve tried it all. Over time, a ‘film’ builds up inside the pipes. When there is a back up, the lowest points fill up first – the tub, then the shower (really bad the first time – backed up to the kitchen sink too).

The best fix has been something called the “Drain King”. It’s about $10 and connects to the end of your hose. You open the nearest clean out (yes, you have to go under the house usually), insert the Drain King and have your ‘assistant’ turn on the water. It has a bladder that expands and occludes the pipe. Then it pulses and blasts the blockage out with water. You just let it run for about 10 minutes and voila!

Only once we had to call a plumber as the blockage was due to tree roots. They cleaned the line out clear to the sewer line.

Only once I had to this myself…after dear husband poured countless bottles down throughout the week as he didn’t want to go under the house. He came out to the back yard just as I was coming out from under the house. A new piece of jewelry now adorns my finger! ;)

I just have to say… our bathroom sink was at a standstill like this, been snaked, drano’d, enzymed, etc… and I broke down and bought the clog cannon from FlyLady’s website, not really expecting too much, but eternally hopeful… I pulled it out of the box, went to the bathroom, and with my husband watching while covering up the overflow hole, pumped it up and pulled the trigger. It took 4 shots, and all of a sudden our oh-so-slow draining sink went WHOOSH! and the water was gone! It is the best investment I have ever made!