Cost to Unclog a Sink Drain – 2021

| Last Updated: August 23, 2021

National Average Improvement and Repair Cost

Pro

DIY

Hours:

1.2

2.5

Cost:

$ 138

$ 20

Would you do this project? According to our survey, 52% of respondents preferred DIY compared to hiring a pro.

Photo credit: herrmannservices.com

The average price to Unclog a Sink Drain noted above is cost data to compare a contractor’s estimate with doing it yourself.

How much to unclog a sink drain? The plumber’s charge to unclog a sink drain is $138 vs. doing it yourself for $20 and saving 85 percent. 

Unblocking a clogged drain is one of those life challenges we all face as homeowners. In the kitchen, it’s usually grease and food scraps, in the bathroom it’s scum and hair that create the blockage. Wherever the clog, the task at hand is getting the water flowing again.

As a homeowner, you’re the first responder who sees the standing water in the basin, so try some of these tactics before calling in the pros.

First, try a plunger that uses suction to alternately push and pull the clog within the pipe until the force dislodges the blockage. If that doesn’t work, try a chemical drain unclogger to see if it can dissolve the blockage, followed by flushing it with running water.

It gets physical when you try the next tactic of removing and cleaning the trap, the U-shaped pipe under the sink. Use a wrench or slip-joint pliers to unscrew the cleanout plug on the bottom of the trap and probe inside the pipe to remove the blockage.

Your last plan of attack is to use a snake or drain auger, a coiled spiral snake with a handle on one end. You push the tool through the clog and crank it, driving the snake further into the obstruction to break it up and flush it through the line.

WikiHow suggests three ways to Unclog a Kitchen Sink.

That sums it up. Knowing the average cost to unclog a sink drain lets you compare doing it yourself with what you can expect to pay a contractor.

Welcome! We hope you’ll find the job costs of home improvement projects useful when you’re deciding whether to do a job yourself vs. hire a contractor. We’re the authors of 20 home improvement books, most notably Home Improvement for Dummies©, Bathroom Remodeling for Dummies©, Carpentry for Dummies©, Plumbing for Dummies©, and Painting and Wallpapering for Dummies©. Our most recent book Fix It and Flip It is in its second edition. We’ve appeared as home improvement experts on television programs such as CNN, Dateline, the Today Show, HGTV and many others.