How to Clean a Bathroom Floor Drain — Remove Hair, Clogs, and Odour

Bathroom floor drains — including shower drains and tub drains — accumulate hair, soap scum, and sometimes mould that causes slow drainage and persistent odour. The hair forms a mesh that traps soap residue and eventually blocks water flow. Here's how to clean a shower or tub drain properly.

Step 1: Remove the Drain Cover

Most drain covers simply lift off; some are held by one central screw. Remove it and set aside. If the cover is slimy or has soap buildup, clean it separately in the sink with a scrub brush and dish soap.

Step 2: Remove the Hair Clog Manually

This step is unpleasant but necessary. The hair is typically matted just below the drain opening:

• Use needle-nose pliers, a bent wire hanger, or a purpose-made hair clog remover tool (a plastic flexible stick with barbs — available at hardware stores for a few dollars) to hook and pull out the hair clog
• Discard in the garbage — do not flush hair down the drain
• Repeat until nothing more comes out with pulling

Step 3: Flush and Clean

1. Pour a kettle of boiling water slowly down the drain — this flushes loosened soap scum and clears minor blockages
2. Pour ½ cup of baking soda followed by ½ cup of white vinegar into the drain — let the fizzing reaction work for 15 minutes, then flush with hot water

Persistent Odour After Cleaning

Drain odour often comes from the p-trap — the U-shaped section of pipe below the drain — drying out or developing a biofilm. If the fizzing baking soda/vinegar flush doesn't eliminate the smell:

• Pour ½ cup of bleach down the drain and let sit for 10 minutes before flushing with water (do not use bleach if you've just used vinegar — the combination produces harmful gas; wait and flush thoroughly between products)
• For a dry p-trap in a floor drain that's rarely used: pour a cup of water down it to refill the trap, which blocks sewer gas from coming up

Preventing Future Clogs

• Use a drain hair catcher — a small screen or silicone insert that sits over the drain and catches hair before it enters the pipe. Empty after each shower
• Monthly baking soda/vinegar flush prevents soap scum accumulation

Maidless's standard bathroom clean includes wiping the drain cover. Deep cleans include the drain flush. Book a Toronto house cleaning — HST included.