Here’s How To Repair A Leaky Sink

Here’s How To Repair A Leaky Sink with Big Birge Plumbing!

So, you have a sink plumbing leakage and you would like to learn how to fix it yourself?

That’s no problem. At Big Birge Plumbing, we will guide you through easy steps on how to fix the problem yourself. But as always, it’s best to leave the job to the professionals if you have any doubts about this plumbing DIY.

Such plumbing is usually pretty standard and it does not matter whether the sink has one or two compartments. We will focus on the two-compartment kitchen sink plumbing and, once you learn how to repair a two-compartment sink plumbing, you won’t have any problem fixing a single compartment one.

Finding the source of the leak

In order to quickly resolve a leakage problem, one must first diagnose the source of it. Diagnosing the problem will save time, frustration, and, most importantly, money for whoever is doing the job.

So, what should be done first? Remove all the stuff from under the sink and with a flashlight check carefully all the sink plumbing fixtures from the bottom of the sink to where the pipe connects to the wall, also, check the water supply lines that connect to the sink faucet.

If you are having difficulties in finding the source of leakage, turn the water on, this will likely help you identify the problem more quickly.

Possible sources of leakage

Even though kitchen sink plumbing is a straightforward system, it can sometimes be a bit challenging to find the real source of the leak but, below are the possible locations that should be checked first:

1 – The sink basket strainer seal might be broken.

2 – The tailpiece between the strainer and the tube p-trap has a gasket that could be broken and the threaded coupling might not be tightened all the way.

3 – The tube p-trap might be cracked, or the threads and joints might be damaged.

4 – The washer and slip-joint between the p-trap and the pipe in the wall might be old, rusted, cracked, and leaking.

5 – The garbage disposal (if any) might be leaking.

What to do next?

If any of the above options is the cause of the leakage under the kitchen sink, you will be better off replacing the whole system with a new one.  The following steps will guide you on how to replace the kitchen sink drain plumbing but, will not focus on changing the garbage disposal.

Replacing a sink basket strainer:

Have a pair of channel locks and a screwdriver. Once the drain pipes are removed you can start removing the basket strainer and, you do that by doing the following steps:

1 – Loosen up the locknut first.

2 – Remove the gasket and washer.

3 – Push up the strainer body.

4 – Clean the sink drain hole really well and remove the entire old plumber putting.

5 – With the new strainer body, put new plumbing putting around the strainer under the edge of it.

6 – Sit the strainer body through the sink drain hole and position it accordingly.

7 – While someone else is holding the strainer in place, you go under the sink and put the new gasket and washer then the new lock nut and screw it by hand until you can no longer tight by hand, then use your channel lock to tight some more, do not over tighten it.

Installing a new p-trap

A p-trap has a u-shape form and it is composed of two main pieces u-section and the long tailpiece that goes into the wall.

Replacing or installing a p-trap is a pretty simple job; however, before installing it, one must first check the angle in how the trap will be when measuring the space between the tailpiece and the pipe in the wall. This means that you might have to cut out a section of the p-trap to make it fit in the space available.

Once, you have figured out how the new p-trap will be installed under the sink, you can go ahead and begin the installation.

1 – Install the new tailpiece directly with the basket strainer; make sure that the tailpiece is long enough.

2 – Connect the p-trap u-shape part to the tailpiece and then the other section of the trap to the u-shape and to the wall drain.

3 – Hand-tight all the nuts and then use the channel lock to slightly tighten all the pieces together.

4 – Run water and check for leaks, if there’s no leak, mission accomplished.

That’s it,

If you have any further questions about today’s DIY, don’t hesitate to contact us!