IKEA sink- here we go again!

[buckyswider]

Hi all, I've read through the threads here about the perils of an Ikea sink. Well, due to circumstances beyond my control (our home's prior owner built the new bathroom around a 31.5" IKEA vanity, and the wife wanted drawers in the new vanity) I ended up with a mess.

Problem #1: Like I said, the bathroom was sort of built around the vanity- it's a very small bathroom with the slanted ceilings of a 1790's house. So the partition wall between the sink and loo is exactly 31 1/2". Got the old vanity out, and put the new vanity in OK. Unfortunately, the sinks that are made for the circa 2016 vanities have an overhang and are actually 32 5/8". So the new sink didn't fit. I ended up going to the trash pile and salvaging the old sink, which is 31 1/2". BUT the old sink is much deeper than the new one (which is made shallow to accommodate the offset drain with drawers underneath), so I had to put 2" risers on top of the new vanity to raise the sink high enough to create enough clearance for the drawer. Got that all out of the way.

Now onto Problem #2: the old sink is metal, and the new sink is ceramic, so the unique Ikea hardware for each is different, including the drain gasket, as the conical shape at the bottom of the sink is slightly different for both. The new gasket is made to fit in funky horizontal drain pipe, but doesn't seal against the bottom of the sink properly. The old gasket fits on the bottom of the sink, but doesn't fit the drain pipe. So I glued them together with silicone! Alas, I still can't get a good seal. It holds just fine on a slow pour, but if I dump a lot of water into the sink it leaks around the gasket.

I'm trying my bestest to not use silicone on either the sink side or the drainpipe side, but I fear I'll have to do one. (Both is really horrible; then I'd never be able to disassembly the pipes if there is ever a need). So given that I probably need to do one, I need to figure out which side the water is coming from. The old sink-side gasket has a flange that goes into the sink drainhole- maybe the new strainer doesn't close off the slight opening between that gasket flange and the sink? Or maybe there's enough flex in the horizontal drainpipe that it's making the connection to the bottom gasket go slightly askew?

I will take a pic in the morning and post, but I'm leaning towards sealing the top gasket first, especially around the flange. There's very little clearance there (but any at all could be too much), so I'm not sure plumber's putty would be effective there. Silicone definitely, but there's that permanance factor that scares me with that.

So I guess my initial queries are: is plumber's putty effective in tight places like that? And, is there any trick I can use to find out which side of the gasket it leaking?

Thanks for listening!

 

[CountryBumkin]

Get a counter top "Vessel" sink. They come in a lot of different sizes and offer a lot of flexibility (it can even overhang the countertop a little).
https://www.thebathoutlet.com/Bathr...a-CA4121~Buy?gclid=CLeY1NSLv9ACFRVbhgod8_oGcw

Post a picture so we can understand what your working with.
Good luck

 

[Sponsor]

 

[buckyswider]

Thanks for the reply! But I'd probably get kicked out of the house if I proposed bringing one of them in

The crux is it's a drop-in and needs to be no more than 31 1/2". Here's where we are:

Here's the original gasket that goes with this sink, which is the prior metal sink being re-used on the new vanity. First by itself to see the flange, and then shoved in the bottom of the sink hole. Not much gap there.

Here's the gasket and drain that came with the new sink, and must be installed on the 'old' sink to maintain the drawer clearance.

...and here's what it looks like assembled with the gaskets back-to-back. I was really surprised when I disassembled this and I was able to peel the two gaskets apart. (this is in "leak test" position; it will ultimately point towards the back wall).

So I've had time to ponder, and I think it has to be coming between the 'old' gasket and the sink. The prior drain assembly had a more typical threaded tailpiece directly attached to the strainer, so in that setup the only way water got seep between the gasket and sink wall is if the strainer wasn't properly sealed to the sinktop and water somehow got behind that. With this setup, where the strainer is independent of the drain and attaches only via a screw through the center, any water entering the drain can get between the gasket and sink. So I think I have no choice except to goop it a bunch to seal that gasket all around the drain hole as well as to the bottom of the sink. Please stop me if this seems incorrect! The only question I have now is whether the silicon or plumber's putty is the best choice for the job at hand...

thanks!

 

[buckyswider]

Well, got it all done last week. No leaks yet!!

That hole in the bottom of the final picture is actually straight through into a kneewall closet where the pipe runs are out in the open more or less. So I ended put moving the drain line to the far left and cutting the H&C copper so they now terminate just short of the wall line, and I attached the flex tubing there. I siliconed the poop out of the gasket and the sink and ran that funky drain line straight back and thence down to the trap. I didn't need to silicone between the two gaskets, but I feel it's very tenuous- part of the compromise that this design makes. If someone gives that horizontal run a good bang it could mess up the alignment between the two gaskets and start to leak. The only thing holding the two gaskets together is the screw through the strainer and into the horizontal pipe (see pic 3 for where that screw attaches). I pulled it reasonably tight with the little plastic "tool" that Ikea supplies, but it still isn't nearly as foolproof as the traditional threaded tailpiece/bit nut would be.

Oh well, the drawers now fit and work great, the wife is happy...guess I just gotta keep my fingers crossed!!