If you’re a homeowner, the sounds of gurgling in your home can be as unsettling as sounds of gurgling in your stomach. You aren’t quite sure what’s causing the issue, how pressing it is to deal with, or how expensive it is to address. 

While there are different causes to gurgling pipes and a professional can help you identify with certainty what your issues are, you may find that a little bit of research can go a long way with saving you money on service calls. 

Is it an isolated gurgling sound? 

If you hear gurgling in your kitchen sink — but it’s isolated to that drain — the clog you need to address could be right there in that drain. In this case, you may be able to clean it out without incurring too many expenses. 

Is it happening in other rooms? 

If you’re hearing gurgling in one room’s plumbing when a toilet is flushed upstairs (or vice versa), you may have a clog in your sewage line. In this situation, you need to call a professional who can snake out the drain and provide the maintenance and service you need. 

Have you still not found the clog that’s causing the gurgling? 

For a drain to work properly — in your tub, sink, or toilet — you need to have it vented out. This means that air needs to travel through the pipes so that the natural forces of water and gravity can do what they do. This means that a clogged drain vent can cause plumbing and draining issues in your home.

Sometimes, solving this means you have to climb on the room and remove snow, ice, or debris from your air vent. Often you’ll find that when the snow that’s piled up in there is removed, you’re drainage delays and sounds become a thing of the past. 

Whether you decide to call in a professional or not, make sure you’re paying close attention to your drains and plumbing in your home. Water damage and subsequent repairs can be among the most costly, and it’s better to be ahead of the problems than surprised by them.