Friday I attempted to reinstall a pedestal sink in a renovated bathroom at our church. The sink had been removed while work was going on. The back of the sink rests in two metal brackets that fasten to the wall. They form a wedge shape, wider at the top than at the bottom, like a French cleat. The problem is that when the sink is placed in the brackets and the front rests on the pedestal, the sink rocks. When I press down lightly on the two front corners the sink rocks easily. Since the brackets are wedged shaped, nothing keeps the back corner of the sink from popping up out of the bracket when the diagonally opposite front corner is pushed down. The other problem is that the bottom of the sink only touches the pedestal in one spot, not all along the top of the pedestal. The sink (and brackets) is level side to side and front to back, and when the pedestal is plumb there is a ¼” gap between it and the sink in the back on one side when another point is resting on the pedestal. There is no way to manipulate the pedestal to get it to sit mated to the bottom of the sink at more than a single point without it being considerably (like an inch or two) out of plumb.
I tried the brackets in several positions, moving them up and down and as far out as they would go underneath the sink. There are now lots of holes in the wall.
There are no holes in the back of the sink, and these are the only two brackets.
The whole thing was gobbed in caulk between the sink and wall and at the top and bottom of the pedestal. I cleaned it all up, but now I wonder if the previous installer had the same trouble and used caulk everywhere to stabilize the sink in place. I’m not going to do that, of course. I bought a wall mount sink to replace it, but I’m curious how these things are supposed to stay in place. I’ve installed many sinks, but this was going to be my first pedestal.
Replies
A couple of things. First you can shim between the pedestal and the sink. Second, every one that ive installed had holes (not always very accessible) somewhere on the back to bolt it to the wall in addition to the bracket. Finally the caulk will help somewhat but i dont know if that will replace the bolts.