Christmas was just around the corner, and you did something nice for your kids that simply involve showering them with gifts. Well, one of the things that you could have done is to summon Super Mario (kids still don’t find him creepy, right?). As you can’t really afford the time to grow a mushroom patch this late in the year, the only recourse left for you would be to induce such a creative mess in your pipelines that the mustachioed plumber will have to appear if only to witness it. If you somehow decided to take this approach, here are several ways to quickly and easily destroy your plumbing system.

1 Using Excessive Amounts Of Drain Cleaner

While drain cleaners can be a lifesaver in both preventing serious clogs and clearing them out, using too much of these chemicals can actually be harmful to certain types of pipes, and could even make the clog worse. When you are using them preventatively, before the clog is formed, make sure to let enough water flow after it to rinse it out.

2 Being Careless When Driving Nails Into The Wall

You have to make sure that you know where your pipes are located, as otherwise, you are running the risk of puncturing them when you are nailing something in. Not only could this ruin the pipes, but you can pretty much say goodbye to your wall as well.

3 Improperly Combine Different Metals

If you have metal piping and have to do some work on it, adding new pipes, or replacing old ones, you have to make sure that you are either using the same kind of metal or that you have fitted the pipes using the correct procedure. If two different metals, like for instance, steel and copper are jointed, they could easily corrode due to galvanic action, which would sooner or later result in the pipes bursting. This is why you should either use pipes made of the same material or if joining two different pipes do so using a dielectric union.

4 Flush Just About Everything Down The Toilet

Sometimes it seems like toilets are there just to tease us. Even though they represent an ideal, bottomless trash can that you would never have to empty, even throwing an occasional q-tip in there could easily lead to a clog. Not just clogging the toilet, but the whole system, mind you. So while it may be tempting to just chuck everything that you don’t need in there, doing so should only be reserved for unreasonably optimistic Christmas rituals.

5 Pouring Grease, Or Pretty Much Anything Else Down The Kitchen Drain

Bacon grease is about as healthy for the pipes in our house as it is for pipes in our bodies, i.e. arteries, that is to say, it is amazingly competent at clogging them. Despite the fact that it’s liquid, it quickly solidifies in the pipes and over a not too long a period builds up a clog. You should also be careful with what else you put in there, as even though the garbage disposal is supposed to mesh up everything, some of the things that people throw in there are just as harmful when in smaller pieces as they would be while whole.