Fixing The Kitchen Sink

Plumbing is easily my least favorite task to tackle around the house.  It is messy and gross and sometimes rather unpleasant.  So when I went to empty the kitchen trash and found water in the bottom of the can I knew we had a leak.  Ugggggh.

It took a bit to figure out exactly where the water was leaking from.  Water leaks can be a bit elusive sometimes and in this instance it was the case here.  I poked around under the sink for quite a bit until I spotted were a teeny tiny trickle of water was seeping out around the drain basket in the base of the sink.

Fortunately I've had to make this repair before so I knew what to look for and how to fix it.  Over time the gasket that seals the drain basket to the underside of the sink becomes dry and brittle and will crack.  That turned out to be the case here.

Not only is this an easy repair, but it is als0 an inexpensive one too, under $5.  You just need a new gasket and some plumbers putty.

First I removed the drain from the basket by unscrewing the nut, then I unscrewed the big gasket nut, slid it down and removed the worn gasket.  Next I removed the basket from the sink, scraped off the old plumbers putty and using an old toothbrush to scrub it nice and clean.  I used a rag to clean the area around the sink hole too.

With the sink nice and dry I rolled a nice fat snake out of a gob of plumbers putty and fitted it around the edge of the hole in the base of the sink.  I used a nice liberal amount here.  After placing the basket back in place I pushed it down good and firm to seat it into place.  The putty squishes out a bit forming a nice seal.

Back under the sink I put the new gasket in place and screwed the big gasket nut back on.  Once it was snug I used a wrench to tighten it without over tightening.  You have to be really careful about that.  Then I lined up the drainpipe and screwed that nut back onto the drain basket to secure it into place.  A gave it a quarter turn with a wrench to make sure it was tight enough as my hands aren't that strong.

Once everything was back in place I ran some water for awhile and then filled the sink, checking for leaks.  Over the next few days I checked it a few more times.  All nice and dry.  Mission accomplished!

I used the trash can to catch water and plenty of rags to clean everything up and mop up any water.  Keeping it dry and well maintained is important as water does an amazing amount of damage to our homes if we don't stay on top of things.  When I was done I used spray cleaner and fresh rags to completely clean the inside of the cabinet and make sure there was no mess left behind to cause any additional damage.

I always feel really good when I can fix things around the house and know that I'm taking really good care of my home.

You can read about our under the sink renovation here.