This project is continued from Part 2.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Removal

The rubber drain gasket and steel washer are stuck to the bottom of the bathroom sink. It was easy enough to pull out the old rubber gasket with my fingers.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Repair: Rubber Washer and Steel Washer

It looks like someone smeared Plumber’s Putty on the rubber gasket – an unnecessary effort – because the rubber gasket is flexible and seals just fine by itself when compressed by the lock nut and washer. Plumber’s Putty should only be used to seal the joint between two hard and inflexible surfaces when a rubber gasket isn’t present; for example between the sink drain flange and faux marble sink as I’ll show later in this project.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Repair: Pull off the Ruber Gasket and Metal Washer

Wipe the old Plumber’s Putty out of the sink drain hole with paper towels until the faux marble sink drain is clean and polished.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Replacement: Cleaned Sink Drain Hole

Next, scrape off all putty and crud off the sink bottom with putty knife so there’s nothing to interfere with the seal between the sink and the new rubber gasket.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Repair: Scrape off the old Plumber’s Putty

Here’s the old pop-up sink drain assembly showing the rusted pivot rod end that cause the pop-up stopper to stick in the drain.

Old Pop-Up Sink Drain Assembly

New Dearborn Brass 1-1/4″ Pop-Up Sink Drain

Before installing the new Dearborn Brass 1-1/4″ Pop-Up Sink drain, model #H756-1, it helps to familiarize yourself with the various parts and how they fit together as shown:

Dearborn Brass 1-1/4″ Pop-Up Sink Drain Parts

The translucent plastic anti-friction washer rides on top of the lock nut so it doesn’t bind the black rubber gasket as the lock nut is tightened.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation

The new pop-up sink drain is installed by first applying a generous bead of Plumber’s Putty on the bottom rim of the drain flange (shown upside down here):

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Drain Flange and Plumber’s Putty

Bead of Plumber’s Putty pressed on the bottom of the sink drain flange:

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Plumber’s Putty on the Sink Flange

There’s a specific technique for installing a pop-up sink drain and it’s important to do it correctly. The installation steps are:

1. Insert the pop-up drain body up through the bottom of the sink.
2. Screw on the drain flange on the drain body until the Plumber’s Putty just makes contact with the sink.
3. While holding the drain body, tighten the lock nut to compress the black rubber washer and drawn the drain flange down against the sink.

These steps are illustrated in the following photos.

Note the lock nut, anti-friction washer and black rubber gasket (in that order) are set at the lowest position on the drain body. Insert the drain body up through the sink drain hole. Turn the drain body so the rod opening faces the back of the sink to later mate with pivot rod. Hold the drain in this position against the bottom of the sink.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Insert the Drain Body into the Sink

Note that a generous amount of the threaded drain body extends up from the sink drain hole. While holding the drain body in place with one hand under the sink, reach over in the sink bowl and screw on the drain flange until the Plumber’s Putty just touches the sink surface as shown in the #2 photo inset:

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Screw on the Drain Flange

At this point, the rubber gasket is lightly touching the bottom of the sink drain after screwing on the drain flange:

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Drain Body before Tightening the Lock Nut

While holding the drain body so the rod opening faces the back of the sink, tighten the lock nut. This will simultaneously:

1. Compress the rubber gasket, and
2. Pull the drain flange down against the sink drain, squeezing out the Plumber’s Putty

If you look closely, the translucent anti-friction gasket can be seen on the left between the black rubber gasket and lock nut. The anti-friction gasket prevents the rubber gasket from being torqued (i.e. twisted) as the lock nut is turned.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Tightening the Lock Nut

Turn the lock nut until it compresses the black rubber gasket evenly against the bottom of the sink drain. This requires strong hands to tighten the nut well. You’ll see the gasket bulging slightly to make a water tight seal.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Lock Nut Tight against the Rubber Gasket

The Plumber’s Putty will squeeze out around the drain flange as the lock nut is tightened. Trim off the excess Plumber’s Putty with the putty knife and wipe off the sink flange with a paper towel.

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Drain Flange Plumber’s Putty Squeeze-Out

What is the purpose of Plumber’s Putty on the sink drain flange?

Plumber’s Putty forms a water tight seal between the hard surfaces of the drain flange and sink bowl so the sink will hold water when the pop-up stopper is closed. Without putty, water would slowly leak around the flange and go down the drain when you filled the sink with water. This is mainly a convenience in case you want to soak something in the sink for a long time.

Note that Plumber’s Putty is not applied to the black rubber gasket on the sink bottom because the gasket flexes and seals between the sink and drain body.

Set the new pop-up stopper in the sink drain so the notch faces the back of the sink as shown:

Pop-Up Sink Drain Installation: Pop-Up Stopper

This project is concluded in Part 3.

Thanks for reading.

Bob Jackson

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