The saga of the sink, continued...

Remember my bathroom sink?  The one that leaked when it wasn't clogged and stopped leaking when it clogged up a little?  So a couple of weeks ago when it started getting slow again, I was reluctant to do anything to it right away, because I knew that if I put some drain opener down it it would unclog the sink, but following the pattern, it would start leaking again.  So I just continued to use it and let it drain slowly as long as I could stand it.  But when it became clogged completely, I knew I had to do something about it.  (Otherwise I'm brushing my teeth in the tub every night!)  So I went down to the Lowe's by the freeway and bought a new P-trap and another couple of parts and at a moment when I was really bored with what was on TV I decided to attack the sink.

First, I had to clean out the area under the sink, which was kind of involved but I won't go there on my blog.  After that I had to find a container to put underneath it.  I borrowed a plastic pan that my mom brought home from the hospital and started taking off the old P-trap.  What clogged up the sink can only be described as black sludge (I'm guessing a mixture of mildew and soap scum?).  There was a surprising lack of hair clogs or anything like that, just a few stray hairs in there.

Anyway, since the new P-trap is on, the sink drains a lot better, mainly because the new pipes that I put on don't have a coating of black goo in them yet.  Unfortunately, I can't reach all the stuff that's blocking up the piping all the way from my sink to the sewer so I will still have to put some drain opener down to get it running well.  But -- here's the best part -- it doesn't leak!  My brother actually went to the garage and found a roll of plumber's tape for me.  A little bit of that on the threads and the pipes keep all the water in like a champ.

So I am no longer afraid of unclogging my sink for fear that it will start leaking again.  And I satisfied myself that I do have enough plumbing skills to do some simple home repairs.

If anyone needs a P-trap installed, I will work for chocolate cake...