Connected

The old sink is finally connected. I wanted a little something to do this week that would finish something off rather than start a-new and Julia proposed the kitchen sink. Not that we are without a sink, in that we use the sink in the laundry for all the washing up. That said having a sink next to the cooker is mighty handy as it turns out; filling the kettle and pans of water. Now connecting the kitchen sink would normally be simple right? Unfortunately not if the sink is around 2 hundred years old and stone with a none standard and irregular shaped drain hole. And to boot the drain hole is 10 cm long (circa 1800 - 1850 maybe). In this case there are no plumbing fittings to fit and you have to improvise. So improvise I have. A plastic drain pipe fitting nearest the drain hole size has been cut-and-shut with a bath waste to get a reasonably close fit. Judicious use of silicone and neoprene washers complete the job. After that came the challenge of a trap. Standard traps have a screw fitting and washer I have a 40 mm pipe!. Luckily I found a u-bend siphon fitting with 40 mm entry and exit...Job done. The taps are connected to the plastic pipe laid in the floor nearly 10 years ago so that was a simple matter of cutting to length and termination with a compression fitting.

So here it is complete with the beech drainer I made. The drainer somewhat obscures the fact that the sink is indeed big enough for ritual sacrifice.

Sans drainer, ready for the sacrifice. Note to self: Need to do something about the splash back.

Close up of the sink waste. Looks like any other sink waste doesn't it? That's the genius! 

Note the "patina" or "staining" in the stone (if only inanimate objects could talk?).

The general kitchen ambiance with a hint of 19th century chic

And the plumbing. While it looks simple it was a bugger to get right, i.e. It looked right, didn't leak and didn't use 3 gallons of silicone. 

The final bit was to paint under the sink so its looks a bite more finished off and brighter (no matter how you slice it bare concrete blocks as used for the supports look shite unless you do something to dress them up a bit.

TOP TIP....when you have a house in France its tempting to buy your plumbing fittings in the UK and ship them over. My advice would be DONT. While the French fitting may seem different and a little expensive compared to UK ones, in the long run its a false economy. Bite the bullet, learn about the way the French do things, there is method in the madness. Usually in the end its more logical than you might think and you will save time and money if you stick with it. Plus the fact that a mish-mash of French and English fittings is a complete swine for any that follow you!