Any routine maintenance for sinks and drains?
My mother was a hoarder and consequently not the world's best housekeeper, so here I am a wife and Mom and not too certain about my housekeeping skills. For some time I've wondered is there perhaps some routine maintenance or cleaning task I might be missing that is supposed to keep my sink drains free of that ugly blackish-brownish pipe build up gook? Maybe about once a year or so an oft-used bathroom sink drain may clog so water doesn't drain. I plunger it until it flows free and pull out hunks of gunk. But even when that doesn't happen, if you lean over sink to brush your teeth or something you can smell the sour smell of the gunk that is down in the drain/in the overflow somewhere inside the sink. For the most part, my cleaning involves maybe every several weeks using a lime-away type product to clean hardened water deposits around the faucet base. Otherwise probably on a several times daily basis I wipe up water spills and rinse down toothpaste and spit and wipe the sink or countertop with either tissue with alcohol or Listerine (whatever is handy by my sink) or sometimes a disposable bathroom cleaning wipe if I've bought any. Every once in a great while I may scrub sink with Comet cleanser if particularly dirty hands or messes have been washed at sink and stained the porcelain. I've never given much notice to cleaning the faucet areator, Should I? Our water is very good. We drink it as is.