5 Common Kitchen Plumbing Mistakes and How to Deal with Them

The kitchen is one of the key rooms in every household. There, we spend the bulk of our time preparing our favorite meals, a cup of coffee or tea, doing the dishes, or welcoming a bunch of guests. Kitchens can do it all and it won’t be an overstatement if you start your home renovation from this all-important room.

Because proper plumbing is essential for a flawless and problem-free kitchen, this should be the starting point of your project. If you’ve had some messy experience with your kitchen plumbing, it’s time for a breath of fresh air. Here are some of the most common plumbing mistakes that homeowners do. Avoiding them will save you a good amount of money as well as tons of headaches. So, plan ahead!

Sinks Must Go Before Cabinets

The first and most important part of kitchen remodeling is to taking care of the essentials. As such, the sink must be first in your list of amenities to consider. Because they vary in size and shape, sinks can be easily mismatched. Homeowners often make the rookie mistake of buying the cabinets and countertops first which they soon regret. Doing this results in either the wrong sink size or pipe location that doesn’t fit.

Of course, this requires a new hole to be cut into the kitchen cabinet. Sometimes, homeowners are forced to buy a completely new sink, spending their money away on something that won’t be used at all. For this reason, you should always choose your sink either before or right along with the new cabinets. This way, your cabinet contractor will be able to do the pipework properly so that all connections fit. What’s more, you’ll save a good amount of money and nerves.

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Make Sure You Install a Plumbing Vent

Even if you have taken the required precautions, there’s much more to a sink than just choosing and installing it. Homeowners often forget to install a plumbing vent. Without it, kitchen sinks face low pressure. What’s more, your home is left exposed to some quite unpleasant and harmful fumes which can potentially make your household a smelly and uninviting place.

To make the work of your sink complete, every well-planned kitchen project includes a plumbing vent. This is a pipe dedicated to letting air and sewer gases out of your home. Besides, it will give way to oxygen which is important in breaking down the waste inside the pipes as well as maintaining the drainage pressure. Don’t forget to install one!

Matching Pipes and Fixtures

Speaking of pipework, this is yet another essential part of every kitchen renovation. Even though most homeowners don’t pay attention when planning their project, pipes do need to be inspected to prevent unwanted trouble. Relying on the wrong materials and a bunch of incorrectly connected pipes can lead to slow but inevitable damage to your newly-installed kitchen cabinets.

Depending on the leaks, this may opt for some cuts in your cabinets or even new units. To deal with this, you should make sure the pipes are compatible with the fixtures you’re using. Also, it’s a good idea to avoid overloading your pipes because the increased demand for water from various sources can lead to low water pressure.

Don’t Forget about the Flooring

Although this might be pretty obvious, ensuring a proper sequence in the execution of a kitchen renovation isn’t that common as you might think. Of course, every homeowner would love fresh flooring for his or her kitchen. However, the main mistake people do when remodeling is installing the cabinets before the tile or wooden floor. This requires additional and often unnecessary effort.

To fix the mistake, some owners replace the flooring only around the fixtures. But this can get you in even more trouble. Because this leaves some appliances stuck in the borders of the old flooring, plumbers or general contractors will have a hard time trying to repair or install your dishwasher. For this reason, doing an entire renovation is a much better alternative, especially when you’re considering a flooring change. Also, don’t forget to do it before you have your cabinets installed.

Always Rely on Professional Plumbing Service

Last but not least, it’s a well-known fact that kitchen renovations can hurt your pocket. And this is the moment where lots of homeowners start searching for ways to save money. One of the most common solutions is to do everything by themselves. The DIY might be a clever way if you’re on a budget and can’t afford a professional. However, it’s suggested only for those who are plumbers or contractors themselves.

Being handy isn’t an excuse as trying to deal with the kitchen pipework can cost you more than you’ve predicted. Wrong fixtures or tools, improper caulking, and incorrect garbage disposal installation are among the most frequent mistakes that homeowners make. Worse yet, leaving off with some minor flaws will sooner or later come back to haunt you, especially when you find your new kitchen floor and cabinets ruined by leaks.

To prevent this, you should always rely on a professional rather than taking the risk of doing everything on your own. A professional plumber will fix your kitchen to perfection. Ultimately, spending more money in the upfront would definitely pay off in the long run.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, kitchens play a major role in every household. The kitchen sink is the place where we spend a considerable chunk of our day-to-day activities. But a puddle of water inside the cabinet under your sink can completely ruin your routine. For this reason, every homeowner should make sure that his or her sink is properly installed in the first place.

Of course, plumbing fittings get old, and drains and pipes do not last forever. And there’s nothing unusual in changing them when remodeling a kitchen. However, it’s very important to rely on a professional plumber. High-quality plumbing service will ensure a long-lasting and problem-free kitchen experience. SGHomeNeeds will help you find the best plumbing service companies in Singapore in no time and at reasonable prices.