Cleaning 101

Hello everyone. Glad I found this board. My 14-year-old dd is not good at cleaning her own bathroom, which she agreed to do when I let her switch to our spare room which has its own bathroom. Unfortunately with graduate school and all my other single-parenting responsibilities, I was just trusting and hoping and praying that she would without being told (ha ha) wash her tub out once in a while. So a few weeks go by, and I decide to check it and UGH!! There was scum all along the sides, and the drain was clogged. I use Drano on my own tub and it works great, but instead of using it first on hers, I scrubbed the scum out with Ajax and a hard industrial-strength brush. The scum came off great but then the water wouldn't drain.

Duh! I should have realized that would happen but in my haste to get that awful looking scum out, I didn't think it through clearly. I can't use the Drano now because it cannot be mixed with Ajax due to toxic fumes (I called their 800 number for help), but since the drain is clogged, the water doesn't move. Well, it does move but very slowly. They told me that I should call a plumber to unstop it but I'm trying to find a cheaper way out of this mess.

How can I unclog the drain with Ajax in the tub, or else how can I get the Ajax out??

Thanks for any help,

Vonique

Welcome to the board Vonique :-) Here's a useful page Unclogging Bathtub Drains - is it a pop-up type drain? Basically you need a plunger, you can normally get them quite cheaply at a home depot type store. It's a good idea not to use drain clearing chemicals all the time as they can take their toll on your pipes.

Do you think it is hair that is the main culprit - I know it is in our house! I use a product similar to this Hair_Stopper or this Pop-Up Suction Hair Trap for Shower 
it's amazing how much it collects in just one hair wash!

HTH and let us know how you get on :-)

I'm going to try the plunger technique. I also am going to try the maintenance trick of pouring boiling water once a month down the drain, and baking soda followed by vinegar. The hair stopper is a good idea too! Thanks so much!

Von