All these headaches can be avoided by just spending a couple of hours caulking the bathroom sink properly.

What will you need?

Caulking, of course, this can be bought as a tube of caulking or a cartridge for a caulking gun. The choice is a matter of personal preference. If you have just one bathroom, go for the tube, it is cheaper for a one time application. If you want to caulk more than one bathroom, the caulking gun is definitely a useful tool.

The prices range from $4 or $5 for the caulking tube to about $15 for the caulking gun with a cartridge.

Razor blade, screw driver, knife, cleanser. You’ll need to remove the old caulking completely. That means scratching until it is completely gone. This step is more difficult than it seems. Caulking is, due to its purpose, sticky, so you’ll have to scratch until every single piece is completely removed. If you find mold on your old caulking, extra care should be taken. After removing the old caulking completely, clean the spot with alcohol or other stronger cleanser than soap. As said above, mold is a danger to your bathroom.

Wait until it is completely dry to apply the new caulking.

Some extra tips: if the old caulking is only partially broken, do not try to repair only the broken part. Remove it completely and caulk it completely anew. Not removing the old caulk will probably implies that the old problems are still there. Buy quality caulking, specifically developed for a bathroom. It costs only slightly more, but fulfils much better its function.

The easiest try, the one which should be the first, is simply to try the plunger. Every household should have one, since it will be useful for sure. Add a little bit of water and plunge the sink at least dozen times. Take a look to see if water is flowing faster. If it is, then it is working. Don’t give up until you tried hard enough to expect results. A tip here is to cover the overflow drain so that all the pressure builds up in the clog. If thing works out, turn on the hot water and let it flow for some minutes. That will remove the grease or whatever and wash it down. Didn’t work out? Then try next step.

Take apart the tail piece. The tail piece is also called the P-trap, since it has the form of a P. Perhaps you’ll need a pipe wrench or any similar tool. It smells terrible, but it can solve your problem. If the clog is in the tail piece, than you can clean and put it together again. No results? Then move to step three.

Use some chemicals. If the bathroom sink is clogged, but there is still some water flowing, try some caustic chemical products. Some are specific for clogged sinks, and some can be made at home. Vinegar is known for being effective.  Alcohol and gasoline will also dissolve some grease substance clogging your pipe. Don’t abuse pouring too much down the drain.  All these substances are very harmful for the environment and should only be used as a last resource.

Nothing worked out? Go for a drill snake. There is no need to buy one, they are available to rent. There are also sink snakes that are equally effective. The smallest are thirty feet and can reach deep down the drain. Just let it go down the piping and move it slowly. You’ll feel it going down and you can partially control the direction of it. Sometimes you’ll feel the clog getting dissolve and other times you’ll have to test pouring water down the sink. Drill snakes are highly effective. Wear gloves for your safety.

After unclogging the bathroom sink, always let hot water flow down abundantly for some minutes.

For these simple homemade clogs, there is nothing like a homemade unclogging. Here is how you can do it.

If there is some water still flowing through the clog then your problem is not too serious.  Such partial clogging, where at least some water is coming through, are the easiest to solve.

The simplest way to try and unclog it is just pouring boiling water down the drain.  If the clog was caused by some greasy substance, this solution will do the trick.

If it didn’t work, you need some stronger measures for it.  A safe home remedy is mixing vinegar with baking soda.  This is very effective against most clogging element in a bathroom.  It won’t do anything against hairs, but hairs don’t stick to each other alone.

So, pour baking soda down the drain and pour vinegar on the top of it. Let it rest for at least 30 or 45 minutes. Pour boiling water after waiting and see what happens.

Sometimes, you’ll need to use a plunger on the top of that. The vinegar and soda is certainly doing their job, but some pressure will help it.  Use the plunger to put pressure and suctions.  This pulling and pushing will put some movement into your pipe.  Some people also use stronger substances with some caustic chemicals. Others, however, mind the environment and stick to natural means, which also work in most cases.

For major clogging, you would perhaps need to remove the pipe and clean it.  If nothing helps, possibly the clogging is way down the pipe.  In this case, you might need to stick a steel cable down it and see what happens.  Normally just pushing and pulling it will do the trick. If some water is coming through go for the vinegar and soda method or some caustic chemicals, like caustic soda.

In almost all cases, you’ll be able to unclog your bathroom sink drain. Remember to apply any measure before the drain is completely clogged. Partial clogged drains are normally very easy to unclog.

Changing the faucet hardware is easy, but you’ll need to follow some simple steps. First, turn the water off. It is incredible how many home remodelers forget about this step and start to work on their faucet just to discover that water pours out, almost inundating the bathroom.   After turning off the water, let the water in the plumbs run out of it. Only then, you can start working on your faucet.

Besides the faucet fixture itself, you won’t need lots of things to install a new faucet.  Before you purchase a new faucet fixture, remember that not all faucets fit in every sink.  The counter of your sink will have two holes, more or less 3 inches apart, for fixing a faucet.  You could drill new holes, but it is not recommended, unless you know what you are doing.  Finding a faucet that matches your existing counter should not be a huge problem, so measure the distance and buy an appropriate faucet.

Buy also some Teflon tape, putty or caulking.  A good wrench is normally your basic tool and you’ll also need a screwdriver.

Removing the old faucet is a simple process.  Remove the caps from the faucet handles and unscrew them.  Then go under the sink and find the nuts that hold the supply lines to the faucet fixture and loosen them.  Sometimes you’ll find additional screws connecting the faucet to the countertop, also unscrew them and remove the faucet.

After removing the faucet, clean everything thoroughly.  Remove any trace of caulk that you might find. Check for mold and also remove it.  Mold can be a terrible health hazard and you should keep your bathroom clean of it.

Installing a new bathroom sink faucet is as simply as removing the old.  It is simply done in the inverse order.  Most faucets come with everything that you’ll need, except the caulk.  Some come with a rubber ring, in this case you won’t need caulk.  If you apply caulk buy some that is anti-mold and was developed specifically for bathrooms.  Tighten every bolt or screw firmly but don’t use too much pressure on it.

After you are ready, turn the water on and test your installation for leaks.  If you are looking for a new faucet for your sink consider the vessel sink faucet.

Tip one:  check the bathroom sink’s caulk regularly.   Equally, also check other potential sources for leaks in your bathroom.   If you see some crack in the caulking, you have to re-caulk.  If you find mildew, it is also absolutely necessary to re-caulk.   Remember to use an anti-mildew caulk, since some mildew is very persistent and a health hazard.  Another sign that your bathroom sink needs repair are moisture under it or any single drop of water below it.  It is not necessarily a sign that the caulking is broken, since the leaks can be from a leak in the fixture or plumbing.

Tip two: re-caulking is an inexpensive option. Do it yourself and don’t leave it for another day.  Any novice is capable of doing.  You probably already have the necessary tools.

Tip three: clean the surface thoroughly.  This is the most important point, especially if you have detected some mildew in the old caulking.  After cleaning the surface, wait until it is completely dry to apply the new caulking.  You can clean the surface with alcohol or any other similar product, like gasoline.  Water won’t dissolve the old caulk. This is clearly the part that is going to take you the most time. If the old caulk was contaminated by mildew, clean the surface using bleach. This is normally deadly for mildew.

Tip four:  buy good, quality caulk. Buy one with mildew killer and one that was especially developed for bathrooms.  Choose one with silicone or a PVA caulk.  Both have an extremely long life and are waterproof. Silicone is very difficult to remove once you apply it, so some people prefer the PVA option.

Tip five: there is no need to apply an excessive amount of caulking. The caulk should simply seal.  Apply it at the right place applying some pressure, so that it fills any grieves and sticks to the surface.  Caulking is easy and can be accomplished in a short period of time.