Get Your Kitchen and Bathroom Ready Before Holiday Guests Arrive
The holidays bring extra cooking, cleaning, and back-to-back guests, which also means more stress on your plumbing. Clogged drains, leaky faucets, slow sinks, and garbage disposal mishaps tend to happen right when you’re hosting. The good news is that a little prep right now can help you avoid the most common holiday plumbing emergencies. Here’s how to keep everything running smoothly so you can focus on family, food, and festivities.
Check Your Kitchen Sink and Garbage Disposal Early
Your kitchen will be doing most of the heavy lifting during the holidays, so start your prep here.
Look for signs your kitchen sink needs attention:
- Water draining slowly
- Gurgling sounds when the dishwasher runs
- A faucet that sputters or leaks
- A disposal that grinds weakly or smells sour
If you’ve noticed any of these, schedule a quick check before guests arrive.
Garbage Disposal Tips for Holiday Cooking
To avoid mid-meal disasters, make sure you:
- Avoid putting stringy foods like celery, onion skins, or potato peels down the disposal
- Keep grease, oils, and fats out of the sink
- Run cold water before, during, and after use
- Break food scraps into small pieces
A quick disposal reset or blade cleaning now can prevent a major clog later.
Inspect Bathroom Fixtures for Leaks or Slow Drains
Guests mean extra showers, toilets, and sink use — which puts stress on bathroom plumbing.
Check your bathrooms for:
- Faucets that drip
- Sinks that drain slowly
- Toilets that run continuously
- Showers with weak water pressure
If anything seems off, take care of it before foot traffic increases.
Ensure Your Water Heater Can Handle the Holiday Rush
Between cooking, dishes, and extra showers, hot water disappears fast.
Give your water heater a quick pre-holiday check:
- Listen for popping or banging noises
- Flush sediment if it hasn’t been maintained
- Check for puddles or rust around the base
- Make sure the temperature is set to 120°F
If your system is aging or struggling, consider scheduling a tune-up.
Clean Out Your Main Drain Line if It’s Been a While
Mainline backups are one of the most common holiday plumbing emergencies.
Tree roots, buildup, debris, and heavy use can push an already slow line over the edge.
Early warning signs include:
- Gurgling in multiple fixtures
- Water backing up in tubs or showers
- Toilets bubbling when other fixtures run
Getting your drains cleaned before the holidays is an easy way to avoid an expensive mess.
Consider Small Upgrades That Make Hosting Easier
If you’re hosting this year, simple upgrades can make a big difference:
- High-arc kitchen faucets for easier cooking and cleaning
- Touchless faucets to reduce mess
- Garbage disposal updates
- Water-saving showerheads for guest bathrooms
- New toilet flappers or fill valves
Get Holiday-Ready Plumbing With TKO — Book Your Service Today
Don’t wait until guests arrive to discover a clogged drain or leaky faucet. Get ahead of holiday plumbing problems with a quick service visit. Call us at 678-383-5883 or request service through our contact us page for fast, friendly help.
Holiday Plumbing FAQs
If you’ve noticed slow drains, weak water pressure, noisy pipes, or faucets that drip between uses, your plumbing may already be strained. Adding more guests increases water usage, which can push small issues into full failures. A quick pre-holiday inspection helps determine if anything needs attention beforehand.
Start by testing your garbage disposal, clearing the drain, and checking your faucet for leaks or low pressure. Avoid putting grease and fibrous foods down the disposal, and run plenty of cold water when using it. If you’ve had slow drains lately, a professional cleaning can prevent holiday backups.
More food prep, handwashing, showers, bathroom usage, and dishwashing put extra load on drains. Grease, soap scum, and food scraps accumulate faster — especially if the drain was already slow before the holidays. High-volume use exposes weaknesses in the system.
If you’ve noticed even mild gurgling, occasional slow drainage, or past issues, a preventative cleaning can stop a surprise holiday backup. Most holiday plumbing emergencies come from lines that were “almost clogged” beforehand.
