A-Z of DIY & Building Guides How To Fit A Bathroom Sink

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5. Tips and Advice (Image 5 of 5)

• It’s essential that any changes you make to your plumbing system maintain effective earthing of the metal pipework. Adding new sections of plastic pipe may break this bonding.
• To turn off the cold water: you may have isolator valves fitted to the hot and cold supply pipes underneath the sink. These mean that you can turn off the water to just the sink and not the entire system. If not, you will have to turn off the cold water at the main stopcock.
• To stop the flow of cold water turn on the cold taps until the water stops running. If you can't find the stopcock, turn off the water authority's valve under the cover in the street or front garden. You’ll need a special long-handled spanner, available from plumbers' merchants.
• To turn off the hot water: always turn off the boiler and immersion heater before draining the hot water. Turn off the valve on the cold feed pipe to your cylinder and run the hot taps to get rid of water in the pipes.
• If you can't find this valve, tie up the ball valve in the loft storage tank to a piece of wood laid across the tank top. Turn on all the cold water taps in the bathroom to empty the tank. When no more water comes out, run the hot taps until these run dry as well.
• Try to fit as many parts to the new sink as possible before fitting to the worktop or wall, so that you just have to make one connection under the sink when it's in place.
• Never remove the earth wire straps from the pipes under the sink. If you're unsure, always call in a certified electrician to check the bonding.
• Wrap a piece of masking tape around copper pipe to guide your hacksaw for a neat cut.
• Make sure the flexible tap connector pipes aren't stretched or kinked.
• If your new worktop sink isn’t exactly the same size as the old one, you’ll need to use a jigsaw to enlarge the cut-out on the worktop. Use the template provided to mark the area to be cut. Remember not to cut around the edge of the sink – check the instructions so that the rim sits on the worktop.