How We Installed Our Kitchen and Bathroom Plumbing, Not Incident Free

Written in response to the weekly topic inspiration on Plumbing, and as an entry into the Clogs to Coins Contest. Selected as one of the random daily winners.

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I can't believe I'm doing this! I installed my own kitchen sink and bathroom bowl.

Installing plumbing as a female is not easy but it's easier than a male who has no idea what he's doing. Before I tell you how I did it with my boyfriend of course, I'll tell you all the things that went wrong first.

Here is how it all started

Last year I decided it was time to install the kitchen. Our house had one kitchen which was occupied by my brother-in-law. The two brothers do not get along so we basically had no proper kitchen. I had to make do with tables for counter-space, washing my dishes in basins instead of under a running tap.

I was at my wits end so I decided it was time to install the counter and sink. My cousin built me a very nice 7 ft counter with the space for the sink. The counter was installed on New Years Day 2011.

My boyfriend Steve had bought a sink I did not like but we decided to use it anyway. Plumbing supplies were bought at the local hardware and fittings were my responsibility.

When time came for the plumbing we had no idea who to ask as we had no money. My boyfriend Steve decided to ask his friend the mason to do it. Our name for the friend is Big Yam...don't ask!

When we showed Big Yam the parts and asked him to fit them up without the tanget (plumbers glue) so we could see how he would do it, he had no idea what to do. He had no idea what a p-trap was and decided it was the wrong part as under the sink only needed an elbow to get the water out. That was the first mistake.

Why do we need a P-trap under the kitchen sink?

A P-trap is used under the sink to trap debris and food particles that your sink catch basket might not catch. When the trap is full, all you need to do is unsrew it, wash it out and return it. The p-trap does not use plumbers glue so is easy to remove and can be replaced as easily.

The trap prevent build up in the pipes that are not easy to get to and also prevent you from digging into walls and under the ground to find clogs. The p-trap keeps your pipes clear by trapping stuff that would normally clog drains.

Now that we all put our heads together, how to install it was left up to me because when I looked under the sink the trap was both missing a part and upside down. I had to get down under the kitchen sink and do it myself.

Why do we need a lock off valve both under the sink and on the main inlet?

I had to be firm about the valve coming from the main that would lock off the water to the kitchen. My boyfriend and our so called plumber was like, "If we have one under the sink what do we need one on the outside for?".

I had to explain to both of them that if there was a leak under sink below the valve then we would have to turn the main valve that feeds water to every room in order to fix it, while a valve on the outside of the kitchen would turn the kitchen water off without affecting the rest of the house. That said, we proceeded.

Why do we need a hose and valve under the sink?

Big Yam also had no idea how to install the hose and valve. He wanted to glue the hose to the adapter. Wrong! Plumbers tape is to be used to connect the male adapter to the hose and then you tanget the adapter to the pvc pipe. The other end of the hose must be screwed to the valve and of course plumbers tape must be used again. Why. If there is a leak in the hose or washer needs to be changed in the valve it should be pretty easy to unscrew, repair or replace the parts.

In June we installed our bathroom. Big Yam was again the designated assistant plumber. He told us he had previously installed toilet bowls for other persons which my boyfriend corroborated.

First mistake, some of the items that Big Yam asked us to get were the wrong size, then there weren't enough stuff. When we were ready to set the bowl, I was even more skeptical that he could do it based on the kitchen fiasco.

The wax ring

There is a wax ring that comes with the bowl set with all the other fittings. When asked what that was for, Big Yam stated that it was supposed to grease the joints of the pipe and around the edges of the bowl.......LOL

First mistake, the wax was is not grease. Luckily I remembered I had a plumbing manual! Upon investigating I found out that the wax ring was placed under the bowl on the floor at the intersection of the three inch pipe and the flush hole to prevent water or moisture from escaping while flushing!

I said to Big Yam, before setting the sewage pipe in the floor, measure the bowl to see how far from the wall to set the pipe. He didn't. It's not so bad but now the bowl is at an angle from the wall.

The tank fittings

There are two plastic nuts and bolts that screw down the tank on the bowl. It took about three hours for Big Yam to figure out what to do with it. The fittings in the book I had were slightly different form the real deal so it took me a while to figure out that the modern plastic screws do not come with washers like the older metal ones.

It was night when Big Yam left and we went to check the bathroom and found that there was about a truck load of water on the floor. The screws were upside down....don't ask!

The following morning Steve and I decided we needed to have this thing figured out before Big Yam arrived. The guy is a mason and he did a great job with putting in the concrete structures and manhole but when it comes to plumbing he is a dufus.