It’s no easy feat to replace sinks. There are various things that you have to know that only expert plumbers would be trained in. If you have corrosion problems or some other irreparable issue, you’ll end up having to replace sinks in your home. However, you really should hire a professional to do the job right. Replacing your sink involves the following steps:
- You have to measure the sink you have to make sure your new sink has the same dimensions as well as drain locations. If it doesn’t you’ll have to update your counter tops and plumbing.
- If you are replacing the faucet, sprayer, filtered water tap or more then you’ll have to wait to do that until after you have installed the new sink. The hardware will wait til then.
- So, after you have measured and selected your new sink, you’ll have to turn off the water supply lines or even the main supply line to the house. Then, turn on the faucet. This helps to relieve water pressure.
- Then comes the disconnecting of the water supply lines that are attached to the faucet. There is usually water in the supply lines so you’ll have to be prepared to deal with that.
- If you have a garbage disposer, then you’ll have to turn off the circuit, unplug it and disconnect the pipes. Again, watch out for water in the pipes. If you haven’t cleaned out your P trap in awhile, this could be a messy job.
- If you have a dishwasher, that line will need to be taken off to.
- Then you literally have to remove the entire garbage disposal but loosening pipes, brackets, nuts and twists.
- Now you have to loosen the metal clips that are around the bottom of the sink. You may need a screw driver or a wrench to do this properly. Then you’ll need to cut away any caulking.
- After that’s done, you can push the sink from understand to get it off. That knife will come in handy to get rid of any grime, putty and caulking that is left on the counter. Regular cleaning will be necessary to, probably.
And that’s just removing sinks, you haven’t even starting to replace sinks yet and it’s already a huge job. In order to install the new sink, you then have to:
- Put the new sink in the old in the counters where it will go to double check that it’s going to fit. You might have to cut into your counter tops to make them wider.
- Then, attach the clips to the bottom of the sink.
- You should install the drain before you put it back in the hole where it goes. You’ll probably need some putty around the strainer to make it stay. Turn the sink of its side and put gaskets and flange on the underside of the drain. Even drains without disposers will need this. You can get rid of the extra putty with a towel. If you have a drain with a disposer, you’ll probably have to use a mounting bracket on the bottom of the sink.
- Put silicone on the understand edge of the sink and put the sink through the counter top opening to attach it to where it needs to go.
- Once the sink is in, the attachment clips, nuts and screws will all need to be turned and tightened. Supply lines will need to connected again but you can’t tighten the connections to much otherwise you’ll end up stripping the threads off of them.
- You can now reattach your garbage disposal and reinstall the drain from the dishwasher if you have those. The pipes will need to go back on as well. Trying to make the pipes match up to a new sink can be an even bigger job if your pipes are too long or too short.
- Install the faucet and whatever else you have. You’ll do that according to your manufacturer instructions. Then, reconnect the power and you’re done.
One small move when you replace sinks and you’re done. It’s a lot easier to just leave it to the professionals. They know what they are doing and could probably replace a sink in their sleep. It’s not even always cheaper to do it yourself either.