Speeding up your slow-draining sink

Q: My bathroom sink drains pretty slowly, and fills up at least halfway when I'm brushing my teeth with the water running. I'm not sure if I should use a drain cleaner on it. What do you recommend? – Sara in Melbourne, Fla.

A: Before taking the drain-cleaner route, try a couple of other things first. A slow-flowing bathroom sink drain's problem may be sitting right in front of you, at the bottom of the sink, with the stopper.

Most of today's standard bathroom sinks use a pop-up sink-stopper, controlled by a push-pull rod behind and below the sink. The bottom of the stopper is typically attached to a control rod; this ensures that the stopper pops up far enough to allow a good, steady drain of water, and that it seals tightly when you want to fill the sink.

A couple of things can happen to the stopper over time: Hair and soap can get stuck at the bottom of the stopper, where the pivot rod attaches to it, causing a clog or slowdown. Or, the attachment to the pivot rod can break. Even if the stopper still pops up or closes, it may not be doing either very well.

So check your stopper first: grab it from the top with your index finger and thumb and pull gently upward. If it comes out easily, its attachment is likely broken. There's a great step-by-step guide at Instructables (http://bit.ly/1DxPvZa) on replacing a pop-up stopper.

If the stopper is attached to the pivot rod, you can go ahead and check for a clog at the base. Dive under the sink and locate the pivot rod. This is a round metal rod jutting horizontally into the back of the drainpipe. It's held in place by a nut; loosen this nut and ease out the pivot rod. You may want to have a helper hold onto the stopper from above so that it doesn't fall flush into place, making it hard to get out. Once the rod is pulled back, lift out the stopper.

Clean the gunk from the bottom of the stopper; if you see more gunk in the area around where the pivot rod sits, try fishing out the clog using a wire hanger bent into a hook, or an old bottle brush, or feed a pipe snake to the spot and swirl it a couple of times.

Using a helper to position the stopper, move the pivot rod back into place and hand-tighten the nut. Run the water to see if the slow drain problem is fixed, making sure water doesn't leak from the pivot nut.

HOME TIP: To de-gunk a slow-flowing drain without drain cleaner, pour a tablespoon of baking soda into the drain followed by two tablespoons of white vingar; let sit for a few minutes, then flush with hot water.