Weekend Project - Bathroom Sink Replacement

I don't know why I am compelled to document this, but I am, so here it is.

We've wanted to replace this sink ever since we moved into the house. But it took a while to build up the courage to actually do it! Plumbing was involved!

Ours is a manufactured home, and the bathroom sinks are made of plastic or fiberglass. The one everyone sees when they come to the house was stained. I'm not ashamed of living in a manufactured home. It's very nice and it has great views. But I really was embarrassed that the sink didn't look clean.

Finally last weekend we decided to at least change out the fixtures. Here's the before photo:



Sorry to have to subject you to this. You see what I mean.

Remember, we were only going to replace the fixtures. But when we got to the point where we were unhooking the drain pipe, it just wouldn't budge. We couldn't even see how it had been put together in the first place.

The always inventive D got out the hacksaw and sawed off the pipe beneath the drain!

It was only after this that we looked closely at the replacement faucet we'd bought and realized it wouldn't work with our sink! Most sinks have this handy overflow feature and nice looking fixtures are made to work with these. The fixture has big holes in it that with our old sink would allow water to flow freely into the cabinet underneath. Grr.

Midway through the process, we can't just put things back because the pipe is sawed in two. It was 7:30 on Sunday night when we finally gave up in some disgust and left the sink basically like this.

But we were hot on the trail again early Saturday morning. After breakfast out, we went and picked out a new sink, using all sorts of measurments to try and predict whether the replacement would cover the hole in the top of the cabinet.

Back at the ranch, we slide the new sink in and--no, indeed--it does not completely fill the hole. So much for an oval sink.

Another trip to Lowe's in Palmdale, 12 miles away. We finally settle on a square sink. But of course the holes for the faucet are different than the replacement faucet we have at home. Sigh. The new sink and faucet cost considerably more than we'd planned on, but they are a big improvement.

D cuts the hole a little larger and voila! It works! We actually even decide we like it. In go the faucet connections, in goes the sink. We caulk. We find the leeks and tighten them. We get a little obsessed with making the Hot and Cold faucent handles line up properly.

I guess we spent about 16 hours on this project all together. Some heated discussions, yes. Frustration, yes. But all in all, I very much enjoy working on things like this with D. And we have the satisfaction not only of having it done, but of having a nice clean sink and a faucet we really like.

All we need to do now is replace the cabinet handles with brushed nickle to match the tub fixtures, towel racks, shower curtain rod, and lighting fixture we've put in since we've moved there.