How to Replace a Kitchen Sink Drain Strainer with a Permanent Sink Screen
Kitchen sink drain replacement takes one session under the sink and no new sink. The old strainer and flange come out from...
The Overflow
News & Blogs
Practical writing on keeping food waste out of drain lines, for the people who pay for it when it gets in. Grouped by what you are trying to solve rather than by when it was published.
Start with what you are trying to solve
Kitchen sink drain care and replacement
The mechanism, the foods that cause the most trouble, and what to keep out of the drain.
- How to Replace a Kitchen Sink Drain Strainer with a Permanent Sink Screen
- Top 7 Ways to Protect Drains From Harmful Food Buildup and Say Goodbye to Clogged Drains
- Top 10 Foods That Cause Clogged Drains (and 3 Ways to Prevent It)
- Simple Ways to Start Composting Food Waste and Keep It From Clogging Drain Lines
Replacing the garbage disposal
Why owners are removing disposals, how to convert the drain, and where the food goes instead.
- How to Change a Garbage Disposal to a Regular Drain
- What to Install After Removing a Garbage Disposal
- Can a Landlord Remove a Garbage Disposal From a Rental?
- Why Smart Property Owners Are Eliminating Garbage Disposals
- Garbage Disposals and Septic Systems: What to Install Instead
- Should You Disconnect the Garbage Disposal for Someone with Dementia?
- Best Way to Unclog a Disposal — and What to Do When It Keeps Happening
Rental and multifamily operations
Turning a recurring maintenance ticket into a line you no longer budget for.
- How to Reduce Clogged Drain Maintenance Tickets in a Rental Property
- How Reducing Water Waste in Multifamily Properties Impacts NOI
- How to Protect Aging Cast Iron Drain Lines Without Repiping
- Top 10 Plumbing Cost-Reduction Strategies for Short-Term Rental Owners
- What Your Plumber Wants You to Know About Protecting Your Investment
Commercial facilities
Breakrooms, commercial kitchens and below-grade plumbing: what reaches the line, and what it costs downstream.
- How to Cut Grease Interceptor Pump-out Frequency at the Sink
- Commercial Garbage Disposal Bans: What to Install Instead
- How to Stop Food Waste from Reaching a Sewage Ejector Pump
For plumbers and the trade
Working with property owners on drain protection.
Wholesale sink screens →Everything, most recent first
How to Reduce Clogged Drain Maintenance Tickets in a Rental Property
Clogged drain maintenance tickets keep landing on the same rental units, because clearing a drain does not change what goes into it....
How to Protect Aging Cast Iron Drain Lines Without Repiping
No plumbing code requires you to replace a cast iron drain line that still works. What decides the spend is what the...
Can a Landlord Remove a Garbage Disposal From a Rental?
Nothing in federal housing standards or state habitability law requires a garbage disposal in a rental kitchen. The harder question is not...
How to Cut Grease Interceptor Pump-out Frequency at the Sink
Most facility teams treat grease interceptor pumping as a fixed cost. It is not. The 25 percent rule is a performance standard...
Commercial Garbage Disposal Bans: What to Install Instead
Commercial garbage disposal restrictions come from three directions at once: the plumbing code, the local grease interceptor rule, and the organics mandate....
Should You Disconnect the Garbage Disposal for Someone with Dementia?
This is not our recommendation. The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association both advise disconnecting the garbage disposal in a...
Garbage Disposals and Septic Systems: What to Install Instead
The EPA's own homeowner guide tells septic owners to eliminate or limit garbage disposal use, and names mesh catchers for the sink...
What to Install After Removing a Garbage Disposal
What to install after removing a garbage disposal comes down to three choices, and plumbing code rules one of them out. Compare...
How to Stop Food Waste from Reaching a Sewage Ejector Pump
Stopping food waste from reaching a sewage ejector pump requires screening at the sink inlet, not filtration at the basin. Facility teams...
How to Change a Garbage Disposal to a Regular Drain
Converting a garbage disposal to a regular drain takes about one hour of licensed plumber time and under $100 in parts. The...
Best Way to Unclog a Disposal — and What to Do When It Keeps Happening
Every time the disposal runs, it grinds food into fine particles and pushes them into your drain line. Those particles cool, accumulate,...
