Can Wall Mounted Bathroom Faucets Be Installed Through Old Sinks?

Limitations

• Older sinks are typically made from a cured or fired wet-mixed material, such as concrete or porcelain. While such materials can be drilled with the right equipment, the glaze used to surface the sink so that it is waterproof typically cannot. The term “glaze” is used because the surface veneer is like a glass, meaning it is hardwearing, extremely resistant to moisture and easy to clean. It also behaves like a glass in that it typically cannot be drilled. Retrofitting such a sink demands that a faucet be found to fit the original dimensions of the holes cast into the sink specifically to take faucet plumbing.

Wall-Mounted Bathroom Faucets

• Wall-mounted bathroom faucets are typically assembled as a single unit, rather than as two separate taps. This limits their repurposing on old sinks to those that were originally manufactured with two plumbing holes that are exactly the same distance apart, and at least as large as the threaded feeders on the reverse of the tap assembly. Further, many bathroom wall-mounted units have a third control located centrally between the two faucets; the third control directs water flow either to the bath through the taps or to the shower head above. It is not normally possible to use an assembly with a third control on an old sink with only two cast holes.

Typical Dimensions

• The space between the two threaded feeder pipes on the reverse of a wall-mount bathroom faucet assembly is typically 7 15/16 of an inch; when plumbers and sales personnel lazily refer to “8-inch taps,” it is this dimension they actually mean. Sinks are typically cast to accept faucet assemblies that are 4 inches apart. While this is convention, rather than as a result of any regulation, the sizing is effectively universal. The amount of time invested in locating a wall-mounted faucet assembly that matches an old sink, therefore, is likely to be conspicuous.

Options

• Not all wall-mounted faucets are manufactured as an assembly that cannot be broken down into its component parts. Removing the trim panel on some units reveals that the assemblies were made from short threaded pipes installed into pipe fittings. In this case, it is possible to disassemble the unit and rebuild it with altered dimensions; using longer or shorter threaded pipes will increase or decrease the distance between the faucets, so the assembly can be made to fit the holes in the sink.