Up on a Pedestal

After almost a month since we first started a project that I thought would (at most) take two weeks, I am happy to report that half bath is now fully operational thanks to the addition of a new pedestal sink. Before I go into it all, lets just take a moment and observe.

(Cue angelic like music here). Okay, now onto the story, and what it took to actually get this in. We all know about the story of the brace, which was a task all by itself, the rest was just as difficult.  The sink is held together in two places, the brace, and the pedestal bolted to the floor. That bolt was more than a pain, thanks to bad instructions/wrong pieces. I had gone out and bought a drill bit to go through tile, and according to the instructions, all I had to do was drill using a 1/4″ bit. So, after about 10 minutes of drilling, I finally bored my way through the tile and was ready to screw in the bolt. The problem was that they sent me a 5/16″ bolt, and in case you aren’t a math (and fractions) whiz, 5/16″ is ever so slightly larger than 1/4″, which means my bolt didn’t even come close to fitting in the hole. I should have, at that moment, gone to that hardware store and bought a new bolt, but no, I am stubborn, and I tried to ratchet that thing in. I tried for hours and banged up my hand pretty good (since the space to work in allows you a quarter turn and knuckles scraping on porcelain), and finally gave up and went to the store for a new both. Of course when I put in the new 1/4″ bolt, I had made the hole slight larger thanks to my earlier ratcheting, and now the hole was too big for 1/4″ bolt, and too small for a 5/16″ bolt. FUN! Let’s just say I eventually got it in, knuckles be dammed.

Once the bolt was down and the pedestal secure, I put the top on and hooked up the plumbing. I should also mention that I had to cut the existing PVC drain pipe and put together a new one because the drain didn’t line up with the pipe. Okay, so new pipe was in, a new drain ready to go. I should also mention that I have now taken the top on and off of here about 20 times, which is not advisable as porcelain will chip away the more you do that. Once I finally everything hooked up, it was the moment of truth. I turned on the water, and ran the faucet. Holy moly, it worked, it all worked…except for a slight drip, which I couldn’t find. Turns out, I forgot to glue one PVC section together, so I had to take everything off (again) and glue a tiny bit of pipe together. Once that was done, I put it all back together AGAIN, and ta-da, all fixed. So, how long did it take me to install the sink…about 2 full weekends, thanks to a lot of trial by error. In honesty, if I could do it all over again (and I won’t), I would have put a new vanity in their over a pedestal sink. It was so much work, and while I really do love the way it looks, it’s such a small space.

That’s the other bit I failed to mention, the sink is pretty big, bigger than I thought. When I dry fitted it in, the toilet wasn’t there, so my perspective was off. In the end, it’s the same distance from the wall that the vanity was, so it’s no big deal, but it’s a small space so it looks large.

The bathroom is now 90% done. The only bits left are to add a mirror (more on that tomorrow), install the threshold and the new door. The bathroom is 100% functional now, which is the important part, it just needs a few aesthetic updates.

So, let’s do a top down before and after shot, shall we:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I’m very happy with how it all looks, but I am not going to redo another bathroom for a while. I need a break. To say that this project was much harder than I had anticipated would be a huge understatement. At least we don’t have to go all the way upstairs to use the bathroom anymore, so my knees appreciate that.