Kitchen sink smell next door

[MarthaLovesLaughing]

My neighbour's kitchen sink smells awful (from the plug area). She asked me what to do about it. I googled and it says use baking soda. Is that the same a bicarb of soda?

What would you use?

Probably the only way to get rid of it properly is to remove the U bend underneath, as it's normally full of horrible black gunk; but I've had good results with bleach; sink unblocker; one of those long fine drain brushes and loads of hot soapy water; Zoflora; washing up liquid, and bicarbonate of soda or vinegar (not both together). The sink unblocker seemed pretty good when left to soak overnight.

Thanks @PamelaColmansMustard! I'll let her know. I might have a go with mine too! Why not bicarb and vinegar together?

It just makes fizzy salt water

It looks impressive, I have to say! but yeah, doesn't do a great deal.

Has anyone used soda crystals to clean pipes?

I bought drain deodoriser tablets from amazon cause my sink stack.
I haven't noticed a smell from it now.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/buster-unblocker-kitchen-concentrated-power-150g

I use this when my sink starts to get whiffy. Make sure you read the instructions carefully as it's totally different to their bathroom one (which is utterly brilliant at dissolving DDs long hairs). Far superior than Mr Muscle.

Unscrew the bit in the middle of the plug hole (use a spoon handle) and take the plug hole cover off. If you've never done this there will be A LOT of gunk under there - trust me.

Put a bowl underneath whikst you're cleaning as the plughole is not securely attached whilst the cover is off.

Yes, same with the U bend. A job best left to someone else 😄

A sink unblocking tool can get the gunk out (looks like a long zip tie with little teeth) and then unblocking gel will do the rest. I had a terrible smell that turned out to be from the overflow hole, it looked fine but was full of black gunk down the pipe

I have also had good results from using neat hydrogen peroxide and leaving it to bubble if she has any. I wouldn’t bother with vinegar and bicarb because it just bubbles, whereas peroxide breaks down organic matter. But sink unblocker is better

Whatever they decide to use, they mustn't mix two chemical products together, whatever they do. The result can give off dangerous gases.

We use sink unblocker gel. Mr Muscle does one, and there are bound to be others.

Thanks everyone! I've passed on your advice. ❤️

Yes, bicarb and baking soda are identical! A cup of bicarb followed by white vinegar and boiling water is the best cheap fix.
If the smell lingers, it's usually trapped sludge deeper in the pipe. We see this all the time at mycleanerhub if she ever wants a local, vetted cleaner to handle deep kitchen sanitisation and take those gross jobs off her hands, she can easily book one through our site!

I swear by taking off the U bend, thoroughly cleaning this out (DON'T do this over the sink, I made that mistake once!), then going further down the out pipe by pouring lots of boiling water down it (again, do NOT run the hot tap - honestly, everyone thinks 'oh, nobody would do that, but...'),or run a drain snake down it if it's not easily accessible to pour kettles' full down it then put the U bend back on, flush through with lots more hot water.

I'd bet it's the U bend full of gunk giving off sulphurous gases.

Whoever said this is a job best left to someone else isn’t wrong, DH has banned me from doing it again after the last time…

You could try Green Bleach. You need to put 2 to 3 tablespoons down the sinkhole then add a bit of boiling water. Rinse a few minutes later. I would leave the windows open.

Definitely don’t try this with normal bleach though as you’ll create Chlorine Gas.

When my bath plug hole starts to empty slowly I use Slam drain unblocker powder.

It’s very powerful, follow the instructions carefully, and it really shifts the gunk.

It's probably got slime inside the pipes. Does she ever put grease/oil from cooking down the drains? That should never be done because the fats will solidify and cause a blockage in the pipes, which causes a smell as well as build up and potentially need expensive unblocking work done.

If you need to dispose of liquid fats from cooking what I usually do is fold some kitchen roll into a bowl which is already dirty and pour into there, then tip the sodden kitchen roll into the bin, or you can wait until it cools and solidifies. For larger quantities of oil like from deep fat frying, it needs to be decanted into an old oil bottle and taken to a household waste centre for proper disposal.

Sometimes you can dislodge smelly pipe slime by letting thick bleach run around the edges of the pipe, and then boil a whole kettle and pour it directly into the drain in one go.

A good drain trap can help prevent food scraps from going into the drain in the first place as well, those can be bought cheaply in any supermarket or anywhere you buy random homewares.

It's fine to mix bleach with boiling water, although not usually necessary. Mixing bleach with an acid like vinegar is how you end up with chlorine gas.