Hi. I have a pedestal sink that I want to remove.. I have not done this before just want to ask a couple of questions. First, once I shut the cold and hot water below the pedestal, should that be best way to shut water or do I have to shut the whole house off?
The pipe that goes from the wall to the pedestal- shaped like a U, I remove that from the wall?
Thanks! KOS
There are no dumb questions, and everybody has to start somewhere. But given the questions you asked, I think you need more help than can be given in a couple of paragraphs. Before you do anything, I strongly recommend you Google some web sites on 'basic household plumbing', and probably buy one of the DIY books on the same subject. A picture is worth a thousand words, etc.
But having said all that- what is the overall project you are doing? Just changing the sink, or redoing the whole bathroom? If you are just changing out the sink, and the existing shutoffs and drain fitting in wall are in good condition, it is not much harder than changing a light bulb. If the shutoffs are all crusty with blue-green scale, they are likely to self-destruct as you mess with them, so you definitely want to find the house shutoff and have a clear path to it, before you start. (If other people are in the house, they usually get cranky if you shut everything off.) Any time you take a drain trap (the U-shaped thing) apart, it is cheap insurance to install a new one, especially if the old one is metal. Metal ones can be on the verge of leaking for years, and only fail when torque is applied to them. Plastic ones are usually more forgiving, but the seals can be iffy, and the nuts can crack. They are dirt cheap to replace, so little reason not to. Do you have tools? Does your new sink (if your are installing one) have a drain tailpiece included? If not, you will need one of those as well, and plumber's putty to seal the drain ring. Are you installing a new faucet? Are the (usually flexible these days) supply lines long enough to reach the existing shutoffs? And so on and so on, which is why I suggest the book.
But please don't let me discourage you- this is a pretty easy DIY project.
The purpose of the shut-off valves at the fixture is so that the water can be shut off at the fixture without turning off the water supply to the entire house.
Yes. Stuff a rag in the hole in the wall to prevent sewer gases from entering the room until you are ready reinstall or install a new fixture.
Perfect, thats all I wanted to know. I am going to keep the pedestal but need access to paint the wall. I will change out the fixtures to another finish so they will go too,. ie shut off valves etc... Sounds pretty easy.. My real concern was just the shutting off of the h20. But since you say using the shut off valves is adequate, I will go with that..
If you plan to replace the shut-off valves, you will first need to turn off the water supply to the entire house.
Depending upon the age of the valves, you may find that they still leak after shutting them off. This is because the gaskets have hardened and do not seal completely. Keep a bucket handy.
If the valves need replacing, pick a 1/4 turn ball-valve as the replacement type.
After you shut those valves off, open the faucets and see how much if any water is coming out. Even if a little is, a bucket may be enough, but this way you'll have an idea in advance.
There are many cases where you can verify that a required step or a precaution has been effective before going to the next step.
YOu would also get an idea when you started to disconnect the pipe, although that would be harder to evaluate, because even a drip's worth can come out a lot faster when it's a very thin spurt through a tiny opening.
I would shut it off to the whole house and underneath the sink. There has been more than a few times those little valves didnt work so well after sitting there 20 or 30 years without being used.
Jimmie
I would shut it off to the whole house and underneath the sink. There has been more than a few times those little valves didnt work so well after sitting there 20 or 30 years without being used.
Jimmie
"RosemontCrest" wrote
Usually easier to disconnect it at the trap.
Notwithstanding my earlier advice, you remind me. When I was 14 or so I went on a campaign to fix something regarding our dishwasher. I turned off the valve and disconnected the smallish supply pipe. About 6 months later and 6 feet away, the vinyl or asphalt or whatever was common in 1955 floor tiles started coming loose from the floor. Neither my mother nor I had any idea why.
It took another 6 months or more to realize the pipe was dripping.
Of course the end of the pipe wasn't visible unless you put your head on the floor, unlike the OP's project, and he doens't plan to let it sit for a year iether. (though neither did I plan that.)
Also, when I didn't have a furnace for a few days, I tried filling the bath tub and letting the hot water humidify and warm the second floor. AFter the furnace worked again, and since my humidifier was broken, I kept doing that sometimes. It worked great, but all of a sudden, I notice that the cold water faucet in the bathtub doesn't turn off all the way. And the tub was rising drop by drop and would have overflow.
The overflow drain doesn't seem to do anything. So Ilearned if I tighten it more than I used to have to, it does stop dripping, but still a warning.
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