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...

My ironic bathroom sink

My bathroom sink has a very interesting problem. It leaks. Well, that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that it only leaks when it is not clogged. If you open up the cupboard below the sink and look at the P-trap, you'll find that there is currently a container under there, placed to catch the leaks that happen whenever I use the sink. Happily, the leak is rather slow, but if you listen after running the sink you can hear the characteristic "drip drip drip" that means the water is draining from the P-trap into the container below. Oh, and by the way, it only started leaking yesterday. Why yesterday, you ask? Because overnight I put some hair clog remover down the pipes, since the sink was draining quite slowly. Apparently whatever gunk and gook was clogging the pipes was also plugging whatever small hole the leak is coming out of. So, theoretically, I could wait for the sink to just get slow again and my problem will be solved! Or I guess I could eventually go down to Lowe's and buy a new P-trap... but it seems like it would kind of ruin all the fun. :)