| There are a few things you can do yourself to | | | | just as tight as you can get it by hand and not using |
| improve the look and feel of your bathroom. A new | | | | a pipe wrench, assuming it is large kind with grips for |
| shower curtain, paint the walls and cabinets, install | | | | a person's hand. Tighten everything up, turn on the |
| new power outlets and light switches, install new | | | | water and watch the drain for a minute or two to |
| faucets, and if your a DIY contractor, you can | | | | make sure it is not leaking somewhere. If you used |
| attempt to replace the shower or tub. Today we are | | | | the sealant, you should not have a problem. If you |
| going to help with something a little harder, the | | | | do see a leak, make sure you used the washers, and |
| bathroom faucet. | | | | that the threads on the large nuts are aligned with |
| When most people think of installing a new faucet, | | | | the pipe threads. |
| they are thinking, I have no idea where to start. | | | | Step 3 - Removing the Old Faucet |
| What tools do I need? If I mess it up, how long will it | | | | First make sure the water is off by closing the hot |
| be before I have running water again? And of | | | | and cold valves under the sink. Try to turn the sink |
| course, how much is it going to cost to get a | | | | on before you proceed. You don't want to loosen |
| professional in here when I do mess it up. Well if you | | | | the water inlet pipes while the water is on or you |
| follow the proper steps in this article, you might find | | | | could have a small flood on your hands. At this point |
| its not as hard as you might think. Alright then, lets | | | | in the procedure your back might be hurting a little bit |
| begin. | | | | from bending under the sink for so long. |
| There are actually two parts to installing a faucet. | | | | The easiest way to do this part is to put a pillow |
| Installing the actual faucet and we also have to install | | | | down under cupboard opening and get all up in there |
| the new drain and flange (tube running from your | | | | by laying on your back with the pillow under you. |
| white PVC pipe). We will start with the drain part | | | | Using a vice grip or pipe wrench loosen up the nuts |
| first. It is more messy than installing the faucet, and | | | | at the top of the supply hoses connecting them to |
| there is not much gratification in installing the drain. So | | | | the copper piping at the bottom of the actual faucet, |
| lets try and get this over with and hope it goes | | | | by turning them counter clockwise. Sometimes the |
| smoothly. | | | | nuts can become stuck so you can use some |
| Prerequisite | | | | penetrating oil to loosen them, or you could try brute |
| The first thing you need to do before buying a | | | | force. I normally use a vice grip to loosen the nuts |
| bathroom faucet is to figure out how many holes | | | | up. |
| your sink has in it. In order to make replacing your | | | | Funny Side Note: While trying to unscrew the nuts |
| bathroom faucet relatively easy, make sure you buy | | | | one time under a bathroom faucet, I succeeded in |
| a faucet with the same number of wholes as the | | | | getting the nuts loose using brute force. The nuts |
| sink. | | | | were turning, but I didn't seem to be getting |
| Step 1 - Remove the Old Drain | | | | anywhere. After a lot of turning it finally came off, |
| First it is probably a good idea to turn off the water | | | | but to my suprise the nut was not actually turning. I |
| at this point. We are not installing the new faucet | | | | had been turning the old faucets copper piping and it |
| yet, but after you remove the drain assembly, you | | | | finally broke of after being twisted to its snapping |
| don't want to accidently turn on the water when | | | | point. Luckily I was throwing that faucet away |
| there is no drain to catch it. Use a pipe wrench (or | | | | anyway. |
| large vice grip) to loosen up the rubber sink stopper | | | | With those nuts loosened up they will fall to the base |
| by unscrewing the large nut at the top of the flange | | | | of the supply hoses connect to the shut-off valves. |
| (pipe just below the drain.) If you find the drain on | | | | Just leave them there as they will be used later to |
| top is turning also and you are not getting any | | | | reconnect the supply lines to the new faucet. Now |
| where, put a large screwdriver in one of the holes | | | | unscrew the large nuts securing the faucet to the |
| down in the drain to get leverage. | | | | actual sink. You can use a vice grip for this also, but if |
| Once the large nut is loosened, you can shimmy the | | | | you feel you haven't gone to the hardware store in a |
| rubber stopper down and the drain will loosen off of | | | | while, you can get what is called a basin wrench to |
| the sink hole. With the drain loose, you can now | | | | loosen these up. The faucet should be disconnected |
| unscrew the top part of the drain with the drain plug | | | | now. Remove it from the sink and clean the old |
| from the flange. Put a bucket under the J-Unit pipe, | | | | plumber's putty and loose dirt from around the sink |
| and unscrew the J-Unit pipe from the drain pipe. You | | | | to get it ready for a nice shiny new faucet. |
| might be able to remove the drain pipe from the | | | | Step 4 - Installing the New Faucet |
| J-Unit by simply loosening it up and you might not | | | | This should be the easiest part about replacing your |
| need the bucket, but more times than not you will | | | | bathroom sink. You should probably follow the |
| have to remove the J-Unit also to get the drain pipe | | | | instruction which came with the new faucet for this |
| out. | | | | part because they have many different ways of |
| Note: The J-Unit is piece of PVC pipe shaped like a | | | | installing them, but here are some general tips for |
| "J." It is used to hold out the stink from the sewer | | | | installing the new faucet. Just like the drain assembly, |
| system by constantly holding a water barrier | | | | the faucet assembly should have all the nuts and |
| between your sink and sewer. You might need to | | | | washers assembled already on the new faucet. Just |
| poor this water out momentarily while you're installing | | | | unscrew the nuts and washers from the assembly |
| the new drain. | | | | and not there location. New faucets also should have |
| There is a plastic washer ring for every section of | | | | a plastic washer that fits around its entire base. You |
| the homes PVC water pipe to secure the pipes | | | | can put a little line of sealant around the crevices of |
| together, so make sure you take note of where | | | | this plastic washer. There is not much to leak on the |
| these washers are. You will need them when putting | | | | new faucet, but you want to make sure if you get |
| in the new drain pipe. Well, that should do it for the | | | | water on the counter it won't leak through the holes |
| worst part of the job. The job gets much more fun | | | | at the base of the faucet and get water under the |
| from here. Clean up the area by disposing of the | | | | sink. Place the faucet on through the holes and screw |
| J-Unit water, remove the old plumbers putty around | | | | on the securing nuts underneath. Connect the water |
| the drain whole, and you might want to give it a nice | | | | supply lines to the copper piping from the faucet |
| once over with some disinfectant. | | | | using the nuts we let drop down the supply lines |
| Step 2 - Installing the New Drain | | | | earlier. |
| The first thing to do here is to either put plumbers | | | | Note: It is possible that your supply lines are not long |
| putty or silicon sealant around the drain whole in the | | | | enough to reach the copper piping on your new |
| sink to ensure you won't have a leak. Plumbers putty | | | | faucet. Don't fret, you can pick a couple of these up |
| is fine for this job, but I find that silicon sealant | | | | at your local hardware store for about $1.50 each. |
| works best and is much easier to apply as it will stick | | | | Step 4 - Installing the New Drain Plug |
| to the porcelain sink as the plumbers putty will slide | | | | If you have purchased the new American Standard |
| around to much and might fall off. | | | | faucet with the new gear driven drain plug you don't |
| Your new drain will most likely come with all its | | | | need to read this part. You have bought a great |
| components screwed together. Unscrew all the | | | | faucet where the drain plug works very well. For |
| components from drain assembly and make sure to | | | | every one else, read on. |
| note there order. The top part of the drain plug will | | | | The drain plug can be used two ways. One way is to |
| come in on the top where we applied the sealant. | | | | have the metal lever handle going through the whole |
| Bring the drain pipe up under the sink making sure to | | | | on the bottom of the drain plug to make sure you |
| have the new large nut, washer, and rubber stopper | | | | have a strong seal when you close the drain. |
| around the drain pipe, in that order where the rubber | | | | Otherwise you can have the hole at the bottom of |
| stopper is on top. Here we also don't want to forget | | | | the drain plug turned perpendicular where it is only |
| the washer and nut for the J-Unit pipe. The nut | | | | sitting on the metal lever. This makes it easy to |
| should go on facing down and then the little plastic | | | | remove when need be, but will still stay open when |
| washer. Put some sealant around the plastic washer | | | | you want it too. |
| for the J-Unit section and also around the rubber | | | | Note: For those people out there annoyed when |
| stopper to ensure there won't be a leak. Using the | | | | drains can't drain water fast enough and a pool of |
| sealant will ensure that you won't have to undo the | | | | water builds up in the sink, be sure to have hole on |
| whole thing over again because it keeps leaking. | | | | the bottom of the drain plug facing toward the front |
| The large nuts on most new faucet drains are bigger | | | | of the sink. This gives the drain the most lift to allow |
| to allow tightening by hand as well as most J-Unit | | | | for maximum drainability. |
| pipes. The large nut needs to be pretty tight, but | | | | |