Hi all,
I have a tricky situation in a bathroom remodel. The original 1960s design had a small wall-hung sink. I have remodeled and changed the wall-hung sink to a small custom-built vanity with an undermount sink. The countertop is quartz.
The vanity and countertop is necessarily small to fit in the space (thus the original wall-hung sink). In particular, the vanity is not very deep. Fitting an undermount sink was a challenge and there is *just* enough space behind the sink for the faucet.
The tricky part: as the attached photo shows, the faucet locknuts encroach on the space where the back of the sink will sit (shown in black sharpie closest to the faucet). The black sharpie line behind the faucet indicates the back of the cabinet. The faucet holes really can't be moved: any further back (toward the wall) and there is not enough room to turn the faucet handles. Also, the sink cannot be moved forward because it is already butting up against the cabinet's front stretcher.
One easy solution is to install the faucet and locknuts and then use a OMT to cut away the ~1/4" of plastic on the locknuts that interferes with the sink installation. The obvious problem with this solution is that the faucet would then be locked into place because one could no longer turn the locknuts after the sink is installed. Removing the faucet in the future would require cutting off the plastic locknuts.
I have also thought that I could try to find smaller brass locknuts. This would also probably require a custom rectangularish washer to cover the faucet holes. However, I'm uncertain about the availability and diameter of alternative locknuts.
What would you do in this situation?
Thanks for reading
I have a tricky situation in a bathroom remodel. The original 1960s design had a small wall-hung sink. I have remodeled and changed the wall-hung sink to a small custom-built vanity with an undermount sink. The countertop is quartz.
The vanity and countertop is necessarily small to fit in the space (thus the original wall-hung sink). In particular, the vanity is not very deep. Fitting an undermount sink was a challenge and there is *just* enough space behind the sink for the faucet.
The tricky part: as the attached photo shows, the faucet locknuts encroach on the space where the back of the sink will sit (shown in black sharpie closest to the faucet). The black sharpie line behind the faucet indicates the back of the cabinet. The faucet holes really can't be moved: any further back (toward the wall) and there is not enough room to turn the faucet handles. Also, the sink cannot be moved forward because it is already butting up against the cabinet's front stretcher.
One easy solution is to install the faucet and locknuts and then use a OMT to cut away the ~1/4" of plastic on the locknuts that interferes with the sink installation. The obvious problem with this solution is that the faucet would then be locked into place because one could no longer turn the locknuts after the sink is installed. Removing the faucet in the future would require cutting off the plastic locknuts.
I have also thought that I could try to find smaller brass locknuts. This would also probably require a custom rectangularish washer to cover the faucet holes. However, I'm uncertain about the availability and diameter of alternative locknuts.
What would you do in this situation?
Thanks for reading
Last edited: