Can anyone recommend a supplier of small corner cloakroom/toilet hand basins, preferably in lightweight acrylic or metal? The ceramic corner hand basins of the type stocked by B & Q and others are too large for the room. They are also too heavy for the walls which are lined with plywood sheets on battens, and which are in good condition therefore I want to avoid a strip-out and plaster.
bathstore
Have a look at the ones intended for boats, caravans, motorhomes, etc.
There is a huge, huge range of them.
Thanks vass, but their corner hand basins are standard size. I need a smaller space-saver design.
Thanks Sue
I have Googled for boat hand basin manufacturer, caravan hand basin manufacturer, motorhome hand basin manufacturer, mobile home hand basin manufacturer, and substituted manufacturer with supplier and dealer. Google mostly finds adverts for new and second-hand caravans, boats and motorhomes for sale. If there is a huge huge range of actual hand basins for sale, I can't trace any via Google. I don't think the manufacturers sell to the public - they probably sell only to boat builders, caravan manufacturers, and mobile home and motorhome manufacturers. Do correct me if I am wrong or give me a URL if you have one.
Well,a very quick search gave me:
Of those, the Wauby corner basin may suit. At 285mm square, it is a lot smaller than the typical standard corner basin of around 450mm square, eg
-- HTH Sue
The Wauby corner basin is the right overall size for the room but the unit takes 3/4 waste which is about half the size of the domestic waste pipe. So unless someone supplies a 3/4 inch to 35 millimetre adapter then I don't see how the waste pipe can be made water tight. Also, there is no hole or holes to mount the taps, although I would be prepared to consider drilling out for that if the waste pipe size had been compatible. I can't find any small corner hand basins on the other two sites you listed, but thanks anyway. If you find any more small corner sinks around 285mm square then please let me know.
Like the hose from a dishwasher/washing machine, the connection doesn't need to be water tight. Just make sure that the smaller pipe runs for a few inches inside the larger and that the larger has the trap. OK, if the larger pipe does get a blockage, you will get water escaping, much as you would with a dishwasher, or with a standard sink overflowing. If you really wanted to seal the join, put some elastic bands on the end of the smaller pipe to make it a good fit when pushed home and then use colour-matched silicone sealant to fill the gap up to the top of the big pipe and make a tidy finish.
But you are going to get that problem with all the smaller basins intended for boats, caravans, motor homes, etc.
The taps for me were the biggest problem - literally. They can look too big for the basin, even for a standard "compact" basin. I don't think you can use caravan mixer taps on direct mains water plumbing, as they don't meet the backflow specification, BICBW. It is ages since I last looked at this - and that was for a small inset basin rather than a corner one. In the end I used two "tapless" taps - they have pushbuttons controlling low voltage solenoid valves fitted to the pipes. IIRC, they were intended for "vandal proof" facilities, where normal taps would have been disassembled/broken or simply jammed on.
But, I fear, if you are looking for a 285mm corner sink with regular waste and taps, that "looks right" too, they are going to be hard to find..
Thanks Sue, that's very helpful. I am going to ask Waudby's if the taps shown at
Hi - I had a similar problem but just dealt with the weight issue as it is possible to order small sinks if you ring around plumbers merchants. You'll need the sink/mounting hole positions first to do something like this - but I cut a small window through the thin surface and let in some small lumps of timber plugged and screwed to the solid breezeblock further back, and planed to be nearly flush with the surface. Quick skim of filler to bring it level then screwed sink into the timber.
Did something similar in the last house but on a slightly larger scale when I found the builder had fixed a (very)large and heavy radiator using plasterboard fixings which had pulled through.
HTH Midge.
Thanks Midge. I was thinking of doing what you describe, fixing some wooden battens to bridge the gap between the bricks and the plywood, to take the weight of the sink and to attach the fixing brackets, if I can locate a small enough sink. This toilet is only 4 feet 5 inches long and 2 feet 10 inches wide, so there is only room for a really small corner sink. The ceramic corner sinks I have seen so far have been around 350mm by 350mm (and project out diagonally about 400mm from the corner) which would prevent sitting on the toilet in an upright position. There isn't enough room to reposition the toilet. I have found a plastic/acrylic corner sink 285mm x
285mm which will fit in the limited space available and not interfere with toilet use. I will ask around my local plumbers merchants but the none of the merchants with web sites I have seen so far have anything in ceramic that is small enough.Does it have to be a corner sink for what you want? To get your hands under the taps means there's a finite limit to how small it's going to get and it sounds like things are real tight.
Ideal Standard do what they call a micro-basin which isn't a corner one - but only protrudes about 200mm from the wall. Won't be cheap though!
Thanks for that idea. That Ideal Standard micro basin is the only ceramic basin that will fit in this toilet as far as I know. The pipes need to come in to the toilet corner from the next-door bathroom and I think I can bring them along beneath the plywood on the toilet wall and then out through to the back of the micro basin. I understand the micro basin can be used without its shroud (which would make surface pipe runs possible) but the concealing shroud also provides additional support. Pity it makes the basin look like a urinal! I have come to the conclusion that in looking for a ceramic corner basin that is small enough to fit in the space available I am looking for something that doesn't exist.
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