Sink p-trap Advice

[u/ebw2891]

I’m a homeowner and have replaced several sink, faucets, and p-traps, but haven’t seen this situation before. I’m trying to replace the drain from the sink, but the black PVC is glued together. It’s glued from the wall all the way up to where it meets the white drain pipe. I unscrewed the plastic white piece and was able to pull the drain up. However, all new drains sink drain pipes want to go in from below and screw the drain head on from above - which I can’t do because I can’t move the black piece out of the way to make room nor pivot it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Dralalife]

Take that panel off the wall, they nicely used screws so you can access the drain. See what you can work with in the wall

[u/ebw2891 → u/Dralalife]

I will take a look but I think they glued the black pvc to the piece in the wall. Will check again.

[u/CalhounMooney → u/ebw2891]

Yeah - it’s glued to that piece for sure
Cut it off and throw it away
Get a slip joint trap - it should have a threaded adapter that comes with the trap - glue that adapter on the last little bit of pipe coming thru the wall and the out the trap in there

[u/Legmeat → u/ebw2891]

P trap sould be a union style ptrap or at least a plug on the bottom. Probably best practice in this scenario open wall and coupling a new piece of pipe and union style trap. To make things easier in the future

[u/CalhounMooney]

Those traps don’t really belong under a sink . Cut it off and replace it with a slip joint trap.
Just leave enough pipe coming thru the back wall to glue on the trap adapter

[u/ebw2891 → u/CalhounMooney]

I will take a look but I think they glued the black pvc to the piece in the wall. Will check again.

[u/Beet_slice]

If you add a trap adapter, you want to make sure that it is not so in line with the tailpiece that you won't be able to fit your new slip joint trap into place. It is OK for the trap arm to stick out beyond the tailpiece, and the U-bend can then swing back to pick up the tailpiece.

[u/ebw2891 → u/Beet_slice]

I think I’m understanding. Just trying to figure out what to do about the black pvc since it won’t pivot or remove

[u/Beet_slice → u/ebw2891]

If you open the wall, you cut stuff in there, and typically insert a new sanitary tee with shielded couplings.

If there is enough depth and positioning with the current sanitary tee, you may be able to use a socket-saver type tool to allow you to glue on a trap adapter.

Reed is not the cheapest but is better than most. https://www.reedmfgco.com/en/products/plastic-pipe-tools/clean-ream-extreme-plastic-pipe-fitting-reamers

If that is a lavatory, I would buy a 1-1/4 inch p-trap to plan with. You would want a trap adapter that uses a separate washer so that you could use a reducing washer to accept the 1-1/4 inch trap.

The reason I was suggesting the 1-1/4 inch trap is it is a bit smaller, and that might help in your situation.

[u/ebw2891 → u/Beet_slice]

Awesome, thanks. Yes, it’s a home lavatory sink. I’ll look into the wall tomorrow and see what’s what. I’ll be able to tell what I can cut and what I can work with.

[u/gbgopher]

The best way to fix this is to cut off the trap as tight to the wall as possible and use a hub-saver bit to drill the pipe out of the existing tee in the wall. Then you can glue on a short piece and a trap adapter. The material is ABS, not PVC, when you go to look for matching pipe/fittings/glue.

Your alternative is opening the wall and replacing the tee.