One Cleveland man's sink looked like a muddy swamp over Thanksgiving weekend. A clogged drain in his apartment due to grease ruined dishes and his holiday weekend.
Jordan Smith lives at the Statler Arms apartments in the heart of downtown Cleveland.
“My sink was to the very top. The very, very top with black water," he said, describing what it looked like the day before Thanksgiving.
He immediately called maintenance, and said they tried to drain the swamp. Days later, it happened again.
According to a maintenance report from the complex, there was two feet worth of grease built up in the drain. Experts said that amount of grease could take years to build up.
However, Smith hasn't lived there longer than a few months.
“I’ve been in this unit since August. Two feet seems like a lot of grease, and I don’t really know who would be able to cook at that kind of volume," he said. "I don't even cook."
A spokesperson for the complex said a previous tenant could be to blame. They also said maintenance conducted a run through before the tenant moved in, but that did not include snaking the drain, nor was that required.
“I shouldn’t have to call maintenance to do a walk through to fix things that are potentially broken," Smith said. “I literally couldn’t celebrate a holiday in my apartment with my friends.”
News 5 requested an interview with the maintenance team at Statler, but they declined.
As you are going into the holidays, here are a few tips to keep your drains unclogged:
- Never pour oils or grease down the drain
- If you have guests over, have them wait 10 minutes in between showers
- Run your garbage disposals periodically, before they start to clog
