Putting in a Faucet

So.. you remember that bathroom I put a floor in waaay back in January? No? Then go read that blog post. It was kind of fun. If yes, well.. know that I'm about as slow about getting to projects as I am to blogging. So. That bathroom's been sitting around half-finished for a few months, and I figured I'd finish it (finally). So, without further ado, the next few posts will be faucets, toilet flusher parts, and toilet paper holders. Sounds exciting, right?

Faucet first. This is what we put in.

 This is what our bathroom wall has looked like for the past few months...

 Well. Actually, we pulled the cabinet away from the wall to put in the faucet. But you get the idea. The cabinet wasn't attached with anything.

That faucet down there is actually the one we took out. I forgot to take a picture of it beforehand...

 This, my friends, is a nifty device that I think is called a 'sink wrench'. Or something like that. Point is, it's a long locking head on a stick, quite nifty for turning stuff way up where you can't reach behind pipes, like when installing a faucet.

 Close up of removed faucet. Still looks ok, just doesn't fit with the new color scheme.

 Needless to say, after a few years, things accumulate some dirt, no matter how well you clean it.. and this is from before we moved in, so.. a lot of dirt.

 It cleaned up quite nicely, though. Make sure you clean this stuff off.. it can be a pain to try and do it after.

 This is what the underside of the drain looks like. Or, at least, it's what it looks like when I;m trying to get a pliers around it and take a picture simultaneously. I think you get the idea.

 This trick to this is grabbing this part with a pliers while someone else up top sticks a screwdriver in the holes up there (you'll see what I mean if you look.. I didn't take any up top pics).

 And, if it still won't come (ours didn't), then get some of this magical stuff and spray it all over the teeth of the turning part. It helps more than I can say.

 You may not be able to compare very well, but this is a LOT cleaner than it was before that magical grease. It also came a lot more easily.

  Oh. Maybe I did take some up top pics. See those holes? stick a screwdriver in there to help turn. In any case, see how gross that looks? that's not all just from our efforts. This is part of why we were replacing it. It's gross. Once that jobber is out, there's going to be quite a bit of junk in there. Clean that out. There's quite a bit of cleaning involved in this, but it will help tons later.

  This will be what the whole drain assembly looks like, once it's taken out.

 Aforementioned mess down the drain hole. Clean it out. A screwdriver may help.

 This is the point at which I got a screwdriver to it.

 And lo and behold: it came! Those black marks are from where I scratched the sink while taking out the drain... so be careful. no big deal, though, since you're going to be covering those up soon with the new drain.

 The instructions called for silicone, and this is what I used. You could use a gun, but this was more convenient for my purposes.

 This is the drain part.

 Flip it over.

 I stuck quite a bit of silicone on this thing, but it ended up not being enough. They make the hole in the sink quite a bit bigger than the actual drain part, so I would suggest doing this and putting some on the sink itself. That's what I ended up doing. Just don't forget to wipe off the excess, or  you'll have a messy sink once it's dried.

 When installing this, you screw it into the bottom part.. just make sure the hole that looks like this point directly backwards, towards the faucet, or you'll end up with problems.

 And this is what it should end up looking like, more or less. Less if your faucet/drain set isn't black with brass scratches.

 These are the nuts that go on your faucet. Basically, you just stick on your faucet in the holes, make sure it's facing the sink, then pop these on and it's ready to be hooked up to the water. Just make sure they're tight or your faucet will wobble.

 This is a pic of one of them being on. Not that you will bother looking, but if you were wondering.

 And this is why that hole facing this direction is important... you know that thing that you pull up to close the drain? well, insert that now, along with related hardware. This is what it (should) look like. Ours was plastic, and didn't work since it needed to be bent, so we just used the old one. The included parts should work for most people, though.

 Like I said, bent.

 Make sure the nut up top is secure, but not killing any parts unnecessarily.

 You should now adjust that little clip thing on the bottom bar so that the drain is open normally, not closed. This may look weird below, but the users will appreciate it when they go to wash their hands.

Users such as myself appreciate a sink that does this properly.

 And this normally.

 Now for tubes. These hook up to your water supply lines.

 They hook on like so. Same pipes you put the nuts on earlier to hold it in place.

 This is what your faucet's underside should look like.

This is me measuring for the drain.

 So.. this is a cool part. That little semi-transparent thing is a sizing washer, for drains. Because the included pipe is/was considerably smaller than most drain pipes, this thing keeps the water in. Just make sure you tighten all of the drain pipes really well or they'll leak.

 The final product of the drain.

 And the water line hook ups.

 Hook up everything tightly and it will serve you well with no leaks.

Tightly, mind you. As in, use a pliers or a wrench. No need to have water spraying everywhere.

 Oh.. and you might want to replace the water tubes when you replace the faucet. It doesn't usually matter, but in this case it did, since the old ones turned out to leak.

 So, again, tighten them. Make sure you have the right size, too. Size is important.

 And voila! you have a newly installed faucet!

 This is what it looks like now. Ignore the cleaning cloth.

Now. The cool/funny part about this is that we got it really cheaply because it was on display originally. If you ask, some of those things you can get really good deals on, because a few things like new hoses will be missing. Some won't be functional, like kitchen faucets with long hoses, since they often cut those.. But you'd be surprised by how much you can save if you're willing to lose some packaging.