Caulking, and sink attachment. Advice saught.

January 19, 2004 11:42 AM

My pedestal bathroom sink has unstuck itself from the wall (following an earring-retrieval-from-the-drain adventure). There used to be a hinge of caulking that steadied it, but that hinge broke during the earring retrieval, and the screws that hold the sink to the wall often slip through, making leaning on the sink dangerous. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty handy. Can I just peel off the old cauking and recaulk?
posted by onlyconnect to sports, hobbies, & recreation (3 answers total)

yes, you can just peel it off and redo it. but caulking isn't meant to hold things up. fix the screws first (it will also stop the sink wobbling and messing up the caulking before it dries).

assuming caulking is what i assume it is, of course. for a small job like this you can get it in a little pressurized container that's easy to use. have some water nearby and smooth it down with a wet finger. it's really easy.
posted by andrew cooke at 12:26 PM on January 19, 2004

I'm with Andrew - peel off the old caulk, clean the area well, let it dry, and then caulk to your heart's content. I would also agree that you need to work those screws in somewhere as well.
Before you caulk it all up, make sure your "earring-retrieval-from-the-drain adventure" , which pulled the sink from the wall, didn't also loosen up some joints in your piping to the sink and from the drain. It would be a waste of your time to fix it all up nice and pretty, and then next week find a big wet spot on the floor.
posted by bradth27 at 12:42 PM on January 19, 2004

Thank you! Looks like I need to find some caulk. (As a matter of pride, I have to add that I was very careful in dismantling the drain and there has been no leakage (it's been weeks). The caulking couldn't be helped -- there was no other way to move the pedestal to get to the drain.)
posted by onlyconnect at 1:59 PM on January 19, 2004