How to install a sink in the bathroom with your own hands

Recommendation points

• How to connect water supply and drain
• Types of fasteners and sink mounting systems
• Installing a tulip sink
• Wall-mounted sink without support: how to fix?
• Washbasin cabinet and frame
• Installing a sink on a countertop
• Plumbing connection

If you decide to equip the bathroom with your own hands, you cannot avoid the hassle of installing the sink. Its type and installation method may differ for different types of earthenware plumbing, we will consider all aspects of installation in our today’s review..

How to connect water supply and drain

Regardless of which type of sink is chosen, a supply of communications is required to it. But the very method of supply and the placement of connection points may differ depending on the design.

Let’s start with the water pipes. Most modern bathroom designs include hidden piping under the finish. Ideally, at the time of installing the sink, two adapters with an external thread should be embedded in the wall at a level of 30–40 cm from the floor, to which the flexible hoses of the mixer are connected. In most cases, all visible communications are covered either by the support leg of the sink or by a decorative cover. There are several ways to save space:

1. Embed adapters with female thread into the walls. In this case, the body of the adapter should protrude slightly from the wall so that it remains possible to hold it with a key when packing.
2. If the leg or casing is narrow, the connection pipes are placed vertically one above the other.
3. If there is a lack of cavity depth, use flexible hoses with angled connectors..
4. In some cases, it makes sense to place the mixer on the wall, usually this is done if the sink is located close to the bathroom.

With the sewerage supply, everything is simpler: it is placed at an arbitrary height, providing a slope of the drain channel 2: 100-4: 100. The socket of the sewer pipe may have a minimum protrusion above the plane of the wall, but the expansion ring must remain on the surface.

Types of fasteners and sink mounting systems

There are not many varieties of sink installation systems, but they all require an individual approach. Let’s briefly list the popular types of sinks and methods of fixing them..

Shell tuliprests on the center of the leg and at the same time is attached to the wall with the back board. The mixer can be installed both in the body of the sink and mounted on the wall, it all depends on the presence of a hole for its insertion. There is enough space inside the hollow leg to accommodate communications without any special tweaks.

Classic water lily shelldoes not have a support leg, it is mounted on two brackets of a special shape. In addition to the absence of a leg, the sink is almost indistinguishable from the “tulip”, but thanks to this design it can be installed, for example, over a washing machine.

So-called moidodyr– this name unites many types of sinks, which are made in the form of a small cabinet with a bowl at the top. Instead of the cabinet itself, a metal frame can be installed. The advantage of such sinks is that they can be dismantled and moved as an assembly in the shortest possible time, plus there is an equipped place under the bowl for storing household chemicals..

Countertop washbasin– one of the most modern plumbing options. As such, the bowl has no fastening, the advantage lies in a more noble and unusual appearance, there are also additional functional surfaces.

Installing a tulip sink

Despite the presence of a leg, the main load from the tulip bowl falls on its attachment to the wall. Typically, these sinks have a flat backboard with a pair of holes through which the bowl is pressed tightly against the wall..

The main difficulty when installing a tulip is to correctly calculate the height of the fasteners. 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 this height is not possible, the leg is shortened from below with a cutting wheel for concrete.

First, a marking is applied to the wall – a horizontal line, on which the center distance of the fasteners is set aside by two risks. Then the holes are drilled with a perforator, as a rule, their diameter is 12-14 mm. Drilling is carried out at first without impact, so as not to split the tile. Plastic plugs are driven into the drilled holes, studs with a metric thread at the end are screwed into them.

To install the sink yourself, you first need to move the leg into place, lean the bowl on it and at the same time get the pins into the holes. Sometimes the leg cannot be closely adhered to the wall due to the fact that the partition between the walls rests against the utility bends coming out of the wall. In this case, the partition must be cut with a diamond wheel, the leg will not lose much strength from this. To securely attach the sink to the studs, first put on the sealing washers, and then tighten one or two nuts of the corresponding diameter.

Wall-mounted sink without support: how to fix?

In the absence of a leg, the sink mount will experience dynamic loads, so two pins cannot be dispensed with here. Install the water lily on special brackets. It can be both the simplest steel corners and fanciful chrome-plated brackets. There is a variety of sinks with two round channels inside the sides, with which the bowl is put on two pipes, rigidly fixed to the wall.

Again, the main difficulty of the installation comes down to determining the installation height. After carefully measuring the tailgate, you need to transfer the markings to the wall and place the brackets on it. The easiest way to mark the centers of the holes is “live” by attaching the bracket to the wall in the normal working position.

The most advantageous mounting technique is to first fix both brackets to one point, then check the horizontal level of the installation with a rack level. The initial fastening is carried out in the oval-shaped adjustment holes. After the horizontal position is confirmed, the main fasteners are marked, the brackets are rotated or removed slightly to allow 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 out into its bearing layer. Therefore, when finishing the bathroom, it is necessary to provide for mortgages in the frame, which will not allow the wall to “go away” under the pressure of the fasteners.

Washbasin cabinet and frame

With rare exceptions, a sink of the “Moidodyr” type is not fastened either to the wall or to the floor. However, it can be quite difficult to ensure a tight abutment of the curbstone or frame to the wall, which can interfere with water and sewer outlets..

Using the joints between the tiles as a guide, you need to mark the location of the interfering elements on the back of the cabinet. After that, the back wall is removed, cut out with a jigsaw or drilled with a crown for the passage of the hoses, then the cabinet is assembled back.

Sometimes you have to run flexible hoses inside the cabinet right away. In another version, the cabinet is tightly attached to the wall, the protective plinth is glued and after that the plumbing connection is carried out. The space under the sink on the frame remains visible, therefore flexible hoses are often covered with a decorative screen, which is attached to the wall with a pair of small screws in the plugs.

Installing a sink on a countertop

The sink can be installed on the countertop either by flush or overhead. In the first case, the bowl rests on the tabletop with the 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 neck, and for mortise 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 more than 70 mm.

For a recessed sink, a hole must be made according to the installation template. It is usually cut with an electric jigsaw, although in the end it all depends on the material of the tabletop. Given that the hole size tolerance is usually up to 20-30 mm, you have to work very carefully so that there is no damage left on the visible part of the tabletop.

After the opening has been made in the countertop, the bowl is put in place and the junction is sealed with sanitary silicone. As a rule, the sink is held by its own weight and, unlike a kitchen sink, has no additional fasteners.

Plumbing connection

When the sink is installed, it remains to mount the mixer and the siphon. Part of the problem is eliminated if the nozzles for connecting the faucet are walled up in the wall above the sink, which is typical for water lilies and the joint use of a faucet for a sink and a bath. It is enough just to screw the mixer nuts onto the nozzles, not forgetting to put the O-rings.

If the mixer is installed in the back of the bowl, it must be pre-assembled. There are threaded holes at the bottom of the mixer, in which you need to screw flexible hoses. 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 packed with FUM-tape on the threaded branches of the hot and cold water supply.

A different version of the mixer is possible, when a spout and two taps are cut into the sink separately – the so-called three-point installation. In this case, a rather complicated wiring of the connecting hoses is hidden under the bowl, so the sink must be removed. The water supply is carried out to each tap separately, the taps themselves are connected to the hidden body of the mixer by thin bellows pipes.

The sink faucet is installed in a standard way. After assembling the body of the device, it must be attached from below to the drain hole of the bowl, after placing a rubber O-ring. A mesh is inserted into the top of the bowl, which is attracted to the body by 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 cuff is inserted.