DIY bathroom sink issues

[Bobby Roberts]

I'm not sure if this is something for a DIYer like myself, but I would love to try if possible. I have two issues with my bathroom sink plumbing.

One is that my water supply lines do not have shutoff valves, and I'm not sure how to add them because the supply itself is currently a male 3/8" thread. So the line from the faucet can screw directly into that, but I can't find a valve that fits that.

Second is that my drain line currently has a backwards flex line. The connection at the wall is a 1 1/4" female connection or nut, that is glued or otherwise held in place on the pipe itself. So currently the flex trap is screwed into that, but the other side of the flex line is just a smooth pipe that goes into the p trap, but nothing really holding it in place. I cannot seem to find anything to replace this with. Seems like a 1 1/4 PVC coupling would work but I can only find 1 1/2. Because the nut is there I can't just put a fernco on it, so if that's the solution I'm not sure how to get that nut off.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Pretty odd setup for the supply lines not to have any local valves, unless the supply lines come from a central manifold. The elbow fitting looks like its soldered on to the nipple. How difficult is it to turn off the house water / water heater supply? Are all the faucets fed the same way? There is probably a 3/8 compression valve that could be installed between the elbow and the supply tube for the faucet.

The drain needs work. That crinkle crap needs to go. I would first verify what type of material the nut is threaded onto and what is behind that which you possibly could disturb and break. But essentially the Slip Joint nut that the crinkle crap is connected with is your starting point. If its 1.25" tubular, then a simple 1.25" trap should be the only fitting you need. I would get a couple of the soft silicone/rubber slip joint washers for that particular connection in case the wall piece isn't perfect.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

Shut the main or tile stop if available

Buy a 3/8 F x compression X Male compression valves and attach them to the H@W Supply

GET RID of the corrugated plastic crap and redo the waste properly

Buy a

 

[Terry]

A simple trap is what you need.
And I like the stop that Sylvan shows too.
You also don't need tape on the braided supply lines. They come with washers on the ends.

 

[Mr tee]

It looks to me like the existing "trap" is connected to a 1 1/2 OD tube coming out lead. If I am right, a SJ coupling will also be needed. I would be tempted to use a 1 1/4 tube trap that could slide inside the existing 1 1/2 a bit for stability with a reducing washer on the coupling.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The drain needs work. That crinkle crap needs to go. I would first verify what type of material the nut is threaded onto and what is behind that which you possibly could disturb and break. But essentially the Slip Joint nut that the crinkle crap is connected with is your starting point. If its 1.25" tubular, then a simple 1.25" trap should be the only fitting you need. I would get a couple of the soft silicone/rubber slip joint washers for that particular connection in case the wall piece isn't perfect.

It is 1.25 but the nut itself does not rotate as it's glued in place. I got a simple trap but I can't connect it since the drain end of the trap is just smooth pipe. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

GET RID of the corrugated plastic crap and redo the waste properly

I'd love to but I don't know what to do.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

A simple trap is what you need.
And I like the stop that Sylvan shows too.
You also don't need tape on the braided supply lines. They come with washers on the ends.

I'm just not following how to connect the simple trap to the existing outlet. Do I need to take the nut off? Do I need to cut something? Glue something?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

First Verify What the Material/Type of Pipe the Nut is connected to so you/we know how to properly advise you on how to remove and replace the Nut.

The nut needs to be removed but without knowing what its connected to its hard to give you a strategy.

There are differences in types of pipe.. if its steel, copper, lead are all very different in how you approach removal and replacement.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

First Verify What the Material/Type of Pipe the Nut is connected to so you/we know how to properly advise you on how to remove and replace the Nut.

The nut needs to be removed but without knowing what its connected to its hard to give you a strategy.

There are differences in types of pipe.. if its steel, copper, lead are all very different in how you approach removal and replacement.

Any tips on determining the type? I would guess galvanized or iron but I'm not sure.

Attached is photo with the flex piece removed. The pipe sticking out past the nut is smaller diameter than the part behind the nut, like it's a nipple or something but I can't turn it.

 

[wwhitney]

That nut should slide off, then another picture would be helpful.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Reach4]

Sketch shows one possibility. This presumes that a 1-1/4 od tube comes out of the wall, and you want to hook to that.

Better yet would be to go farther into the wall and find there is a trap adapter already, or you could put one in. That would probably eliminate the need for an offset.

Also, if you can widen the slot in the bottom of the cabinet, you could maybe jog out of the wall at an angle, and let the swivel on the p-trap bring the trap inlet closer to the wall.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

That nut should slide off, then another picture would be helpful.

Cheers, Wayne

Nut won't budge with wrench or pliers.

 

[wwhitney]

Nut won't budge with wrench or pliers.

And I see you mentioned it doesn't rotate. Can you possibly get a photo of the pipe between the nut and the wall? E.g. from above?

That nut is intended to be able to slide freely. So either (a) somebody did something very odd and secured it in place or (b) it's just held by aggregated hard water deposits or other junk built up on the pipe sticking out or (c) something I don't understand.

It's probably going to need to be removed destructively, but the chance of (c) is high enough that I'm not quite ready to say it's time to do that. Hence the hope for another photo.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Reach4]

Is that a hex? If so, I wonder what that might indicate.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Some light scraping will often reveal the type of metal a pipe is made from. Brass being yellow or reddish, steel will be bright shiny but hard, Lead will be bright and shiny but soft to scratch. You don't want it to be lead..

 

[Bobby Roberts]

More photos

 

[Bobby Roberts]

And I see you mentioned it doesn't rotate. Can you possibly get a photo of the pipe between the nut and the wall? E.g. from above?

That nut is intended to be able to slide freely. So either (a) somebody did something very odd and secured it in place or (b) it's just held by aggregated hard water deposits or other junk built up on the pipe sticking out or (c) something I don't understand.

It's probably going to need to be removed destructively, but the chance of (c) is high enough that I'm not quite ready to say it's time to do that. Hence the hope for another photo.

Cheers, Wayne

Looks like B is the answer. I torqued it a bit harder and finally got it to budge.

The pipe sticking out furthest seems like steel and is same size as the drain line that came with the simple p trap I bought. What's my best move now?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Yeah.. that looks like tubular brass soldered into lead. The 1.25" brass trap was likely soldered into the trap adapter.. or however those old guys did that. They soldered the nut onto the pipe either on purpose or by accident.

I think I would start with a 1.25" slip joint coupling and leave that existing stuck nut right where it is. Then install a new p-trap into the coupling.

Downside is you have a small bit of not totally square pipe meeting up at that coupling. But its accessible

 

[Mr tee]

There may be a rubber SJ washer inside the nut that has hardened. If you can dig it out with an ice pick (or=) the nut should slide off. If it is a plastic washer it is stuck there by gunk and habit.