Installation for Plumbing in a Sink Cabinet

Water Supply Lines

• For your sink’s faucet to receive any water, you must install flexible water supply lines onto the underside of the faucet. The other end of the water supply lines must connect to the water supply valves that protrude out of the walls. Once you thread the water supply lines onto the underside of the faucet and the openings on the water supply valves by hand, you must tighten the connections using tools. An adjustable wrench helps you tighten the water supply lines’ connections with the water supply valves. To reach and tighten the water lines’ connections with the faucet, use a basin wrench, which can maneuver in the tight space under the sink.

Drainpipes

• The sink’s drainpipes must connect to the sink’s tailpiece as well as the stub-out pipe in the bathroom wall. You may need to cut a hole for the stub-out pipe in the back of the cabinet, if no hole or opening exists, before you can slide the cabinet into place. The drainpipe setup must incorporate a curving trap piece of pipe, which always stays full of water as a barrier against sewer gases in the house’s plumbing. The pipes must all fit together tightly, without bending or sitting crooked; otherwise, the pipe connections may leak. You must trim the pipes to fit properly under the sink, using a hacksaw to trim off any excess lengths. If you are installing plastic pipes, you must brush on PVC primer and then a PVC cement onto the connecting pieces of the pipes to seal the connections against leaks. With metal pipes, you must wrap the threads with pipe tape to seal them against leaks.

Stopper Mechanism

• When you install the sink’s tailpiece, turn the tailpiece so the opening in it points toward the back of the sink or faucet. The opening is where you insert the stopper mechanism’s pivot rod. You must first drop the stopper into the sink’s drain, with the opening in the stopper pointed toward the opening in the tailpiece. The end of the pivot rod with a ball attached to it slides into the opening in the tailpiece and through the opening in the stopper. You must insert the other end of the pivot rod through a hole in the clevis and a spring clip that sits on either side of the clevis, holding the pivot rod in place. You then drop the lift rod through the opening in the faucet’s top side, inserting the end of the rod through the hole in the other end of the clevis, which is in a “C” shape. Tighten the screw on the end of the clevis to hold the lift rod in the clevis.

Testing

• Watch the underside of the sink while you run the faucet for at least two minutes, looking for any water leaks. If you see water leaking out of any of the drainpipe or water supply connections, tighten the connections a quarter turn until the leak stops.