Girl Power: 5 Household Projects Guys Pretend You Need Them For (You Don’t!)

A woman works to unclog her kitchen sink with a plunger

Some guys like to show off their machismo by taking care of all the maintenance and repairs around the house, including any plumbing issues. Here are five simple plumbing issues that don’t require an advanced degree in plumbing to fix — even if your man claims otherwise.

Unclogging a Toilet

Unclogging a toilet usually takes just a few minutes and only requires a plunger. You don’t need to bench press 400 pounds to use the plunger. All you need to do is:

  1. Put the plunger in the clogged toilet’s bowl so that it forms a seal around the drain.
  2. Push the plunger up and down a few times.
  3. Flush the toilet to make sure it’s unplugged.
  4. If it’s still clogged, repeat steps 1 through 3.

Clearing a Slow Bathroom Sink Drain

Clearing a slow bathroom sink drain is also easy. You can fill the sink up with water and use a plunger as you would in a toilet, or you can try this:

  1. Purchase a small “snake” from your local hardware store.
  2. Remove the sink drain, which usually just requires jiggling the stopper and lifting up.
  3. Reach down the drain with the snake.
  4. Pull the snake out of the drain.
  5. Pull any hair or other debris on the snake off of it.
  6. Repeat steps 3 through 6 until the snake comes out clean.
  7. Replace the stopper.

Stopping a Running Toilet

Stopping a running toilet is one of the easiest plumbing fixes, because it requires no special equipment, and you don’t have to get your hands dirty. Just do the following:

  1. Take the lid off of the toilet’s tank
  2. Make sure the flapper at the bottom of the tank is flat and not leaking.
  3. If the flapper isn’t flush, reach down and adjust it. (The water in the tank is clean.)

Replacing an Old Showerhead

If your shower head is leaking or you want to upgrade it to a more efficient model, just purchase a new shower head and put it on. All you’ll have to do is:

  1. Make sure the water is off.
  2. Unscrew the old shower head.
  3. Screw on the new shower head. (The DIY Network recommends putting thread-sealing tape where you’ll screw the new showerhead in place.)

Getting an Object That Fell Down a Sink Drain

If an object falls down a sink drain, it’s fairly easy to retrieve the object. Most sinks have “traps,” which are dips in the pipes that trap any objects so they don’t go further down the pipes. You’ll need to get into a trap, which involves these steps:

  1. Make sure the water is off.
  2. Access the area under the sink.
  3. Identify the trap, which will be a U-shaped pipe.
  4. Unscrew the connections that connect the trap to the other objects. (This may require a wrench.)
  5. Remove the trap and tip it upside down, so the object falls out.
  6. Screw the trap back into place.

You can probably take care of any of these plumbing issues yourself. If you have anything more serious, contact a plumber who can take care of the problem for you.