If you decide to decorate the bathroom or during sacramento shower replacement with your own hands, you cannot avoid the trouble of installing the sink . Its type and method of installation may differ for different types of earthenware sanitary ware, we will consider all aspects of installation in today’s review.
How to connect the water pipe and drain
Regardless of which type of sink is chosen, communications must be brought to it. But the very method of connecting and placing the connection points may differ depending on the design.
Let’s start with water pipes. In most modern bathroom designs, hidden piping is provided under the finishing layer. Ideally, at the time of installation of the sink in the wall at a level of 30-40 cm from the floor, two adapters with an external thread should be built into the wall, to which the flexible hoses of the mixer are connected. In most cases, all visible communications are covered either by the supporting leg of the sink or by a decorative casing. Here are some ways to save space:
- Masonry adapters with internal threads into the walls. At the same time, the body of the adapter should slightly protrude from the wall so that it remains possible to hold it with a key during packing.
- If the leg or casing is narrow, the connection pipes are placed vertically one above the other.
- If there is a lack of depth of the hidden cavity, flexible hoses with corner connectors should be used.
- In some cases, it makes sense to place the faucet on the wall, this is usually done if the sink is located close to the bathroom.
Everything is easier with the sewage supply: it is placed at an arbitrary height, providing a drain channel slope of 2:100-4:100. The socket of the sewer pipe can have a minimal protrusion above the plane of the wall, but the expansion ring must remain on the surface.
Types of fasteners and sink installation systems
There are not so many varieties of sink installation systems, but they all require an individual approach. We will briefly list the popular types of sinks and methods of fixing them.
The tulip sink rests in the center on the leg and at the same time is attached to the wall with the back side. The mixer can be installed both in the sink body and attached to the wall, it all depends on the presence of a hole for its insertion. Inside the hollow leg, there is enough space to place communications without any special tricks.
The classic water -lily sink does not have a support leg, its fastening is carried out on two brackets of a special shape. Apart from the lack of a leg, the sink is almost no different from the “tulip”, but thanks to this design, it can be installed, for example, above the washing machine.
The so-called moidodyr – this name unites many types of sinks, which are made in the form of a small cabinet with a bowl in the upper part. A metal frame can be installed instead of the cabinet itself. The advantage of such sinks is that they can be dismantled and moved assembled in the shortest possible time, plus there is a place under the bowl for storing household chemicals.
A countertop sink is one of the most modern sanitary ware options. As the bowl does not have such a fastening, the advantage is a more noble and unusual appearance, there are also additional functional surfaces.
Installation of a “tulip” sink
Despite the presence of a leg, the main load from the tulip bowl falls on the knot of its attachment to the wall. Usually, such sinks have a flat back with a pair of holes through which the bowl is tightly pressed against the wall.
The main difficulty when installing a tulip is to correctly calculate the height of the fastening. Sometimes it is indicated in the passport for the earthenware product, but often you need to put the bowl on a flat floor and measure the distance to the center of the holes, and then add the height of the leg to it. If installation at such a height is impossible, the leg is shortened from below with a cutting circle on the concrete.
First, a marking is applied to the wall – a horizontal line, on which the interaxial distance of the attachment is set with two risks. Next, holes are drilled with a perforator, as a rule, their diameter is 12-14 mm. Drilling is initially carried out without impact, so as not to split the tile. Plastic plugs are hammered into the drilled holes, pins with a metric thread on the end are screwed into them.
To install the sink yourself, first you need to move the leg into place, lean the bowl on it and at the same time insert the pins into the holes. Sometimes it is not possible to attach the leg closely to the wall due to the fact that the partition between the walls rests against the ducts of communications coming out of the wall. In this case, the partition should be cut with a diamond wheel, the leg will not lose much strength from this. For reliable fastening of the shell to the studs, sealing washers are first put on, and then one or two nuts of the appropriate diameter are tightened.
A wall-mounted sink without a support: how to fix it?
In the absence of a mounting leg, the sink will experience dynamic loads, so two pins cannot be dispensed with here. Water lilies are installed on special brackets. It can be both the simplest corners made of steel, and fancy brackets with a chrome coating. There is a type of sinks with two round channels inside the sides, with which the bowl is placed on two pipes rigidly fixed to the wall.
And again, the main difficulty of installation comes down to determining the installation height. After careful measurement of the rear board, you need to transfer the marking to the wall and place the brackets on it. It is easiest to mark the centers of the holes “live” by placing the bracket against the wall in the normal working position.
The most profitable fastening technique is to first fasten both brackets at the same point, then check the horizontality of the installation with a level. The initial fastening is carried out in the adjustment holes of an oval shape. After the horizontality is confirmed, the main fixings are marked, the brackets are slightly rotated or removed to open access for drilling, and then the installation is completed.
Please note that if there are voids behind the wall cladding, the fastening should be carried into its bearing layer. Therefore, when finishing the bathroom, it is necessary to provide collateral in the frame, which will not allow the wall to “go” under the action of the compressive force of the fastening.
Sink-stand on the frame
With rare exceptions, the “Moidodyr” sink is not attached to the wall or floor. However, it can be quite difficult to ensure a close connection of the cabinet or frame to the wall, which can be hindered by water and sewage pipes.
Using the seams between the tiles as a guide, you need to mark the location of the interfering elements on the back wall of the cabinet. After that, the back wall is removed, cut out with a jigsaw or holes are drilled with a crown for the passage of hoses, then the cabinet is assembled back.
Sometimes it is necessary to pass flexible hoses inside the cabinet immediately. In another version, the cabinet is tightly attached to the wall, a protective plinth is glued, and after that the plumbing connection is made. The space under the sink on the frame remains visible, so often flexible hoses are covered with a decorative screen, which is attached to the wall with a pair of small holes in the plugs.
Installing the sink on the countertop
The sink can be installed on the tabletop either by mortise or by overlay method. In the first case, the bowl rests on the tabletop with its sides, in the second – with a flat bottom.
In both cases, you will have to cut a hole in the countertop for the passage of the drain hole, and for recessed sinks – to hide the outer walls of the bowl. The only difference is that for overhead sinks, the hole can be drilled with a crown, it is rarely larger than 70 mm.
For a recessed sink, you need to make a hole according to the installation template. It is usually cut with an electric jigsaw, although ultimately everything depends on the material of the tabletop. Given that the tolerance for the size of the hole is usually up to 20-30 mm, you have to work very carefully so that no damage remains on the visible part of the tabletop.
After a slot is made in the tabletop, the bowl is put in place and the joint is sealed with sanitary silicone. As a rule, the sink is supported by its own weight and, unlike the kitchen sink, does not have additional fasteners.
Plumbing connection
When the sink is installed, it remains to mount the faucet and siphon. Part of the problem is eliminated if the nozzles for connecting the faucet are bricked in the wall above the sink, which is typical for water lilies and the common use of a faucet for a sink and a bath. It is enough to simply screw the nuts of the mixer onto the nozzles, not forgetting to put the ring seals.
If the mixer is installed in the back of the bowl, it must be pre-assembled. In the lower part of the mixer there are holes with threads, flexible hoses need to be screwed into them. After that, the mixer is installed in the hole in the sink and tightened from below with a wide nut. The ends of the hoses are wrapped with FUM tape on the threaded taps of hot and cold water pipes.
Another version of the mixer is possible, when the spout and two faucets are cut into the sink separately – the so-called three-point installation. In this case, a rather complex wiring of connecting hoses is hidden under the bowl, so the sink must be removed. Water is supplied to each faucet separately, and the faucets themselves are connected to the hidden mixer body with thin bellows nozzles.
The faucet for the sink is installed according to the standard scheme. Having assembled the body of the device, it must be attached from below to the drain hole of the bowl, having previously placed a rubber seal ring. A mesh is inserted into the bowl from above, which is attached to the body with a long bolt. It remains only to put one end of the corrugated hose on the drain outlet, and lower the other into the socket of the drainage system, into which a rubber sealing sleeve is inserted.
