Installing Pedestal Sink


  #1  
Old 09-08-02, 12:16 PM
mcorner
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Installing Pedestal Sink

My gf bought a pedestal sink for me to install. I consider myself handy, but I don't know much about plumbing...

We managed to remove the cabinet sink and retile the floor where the cabinet was. We respackled and sanded so everything is great except for installing the sink.

She picked up the sink at a recycling center for not a lot of money($65 with fixtures), but I can't figure out how to get it installed.

Two problems:

1) It came with a P-trap but the outlet of the trap is only 3" (horizontally) from the wall. It is also a few inches higher than the waste pipe. The way that the pedestal is made, I can't drop the sink's pipe down and then come back up. The recessed part of the pedestal only goes down a little ways, then the pedestal is solid.

It is too close to the wall to add an 'S' curve. I tried a flexible (accordian type) drain pipe, but there just isn't enough room.

The only thing I can think of is to open up the wall and move the waste pipe up. It is a 70's condo so the waste pipe is metal, not PVC. Is this extremely hard? Is there another way? I have lots of time and pateince...


2) The pedestal has a hole to screw into the floor, but I don't see how to attach the sink to the wall. It may have had a bracket orginially, but there isn't one now There is a hole in the back of the sink on the part that should be against the wall. The hole is about the diameter of a coke can. What is the hole for? mounting?

-Lost....
 
  #2  
Old 09-08-02, 06:08 PM
P
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You have a project ahead of you. If you didn't have a pedestal lav before then you will need to install a board inside the wall behind the drywall to support the weight of the bowl. Usually a horizontal 2x6" is sufficent, unless you get really lucky and can find a mounting bracket that you can screw into the studs behind the sink. You will probably need to put in the board. (I guess your nice spackle job was the practice run.)

My detractors will say that the base of the pedestal will support most of the weight is sufficent to hold up the bowl. True, but you always get some movement over time with people leaning on the bowl and the bowl will move and flex over time if you just screw it into drywall, possibly causing movement of the drywall also, which looks crappy.

Replacement brackets can be found at most specialty plumbing stores. The bowl of the pedestal may have a shelf on the back side that the hanging bracket will slide into. If yours doesn't have it then you secure the bowl to the wall with wood screws (into your new 2x6). Hopefully you have two holes on the outside edges for the screws. The coke can shaped hole? Maybe that is where the mounting bracket sits. I'm not sure without looking at it.

Moving the waste pipe outlet up the wall involves cutting open the wall, chopping out a section of the pipe and splicing in a new section with a higher waste outlet. You can use rubber/steel repair couplings (no-hub type or fernco) and plastic pipe of the same diameter will be fine. The waste neck coming off of the pop up assembly (the vert. pipe coming out the bottom of the bowl can usually be shortened. Often the pipe can be uscrewed just below the pop up mechanism. You will probably have to chop down the tailpiece of the new ptrap in order to make the clearance. Tight work in a tight space. This might take some time. a plastic ptrap is easier to work with but I prefer chrome plated brass because it is exposed and the chrome looks nicer. S traps are no longer allowed by the UPC, don't use them.
 
 

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