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I noticed the first floor bathroom of my new (to me) house smells like sewage when the upstairs toilet gets flushed so I went looking around and noticed the first floor bathroom pedestal sink looks like it was installed without a trap.

So I think I need to add a p trap but is that even physically possible in this space? I believe the space behind the front face of the pedestal where the existing plumbing resides is only about 9" vertically be 7-8" horizontally. Is this situation fixable without replacing the pedestal or tearing into the wall?

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2 Answers 2

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The pipe coming out of the wall appears to be PVC.

Cut the PVC pipe just at where it meets the ABS (black) pipe.

Get a trap adapter to glue to the pvc pipe. 1 1/2 hub to a 1 1/4 inlet. (Most Bath sinks take a 1 1/4" trap.)

Remove all the black pipe from the sink tailpiece. Replace it with a 1 1/4 bath p-trap kit. It has everything you need to connect the sink drain tail into the adapter on the pipe from the wall. It needs no glue. This is all screw on fittings using supplied washers. Follow supplied directions.

You may need a tailpiece extender (also 1 1/4) if the tail from the sink is too short.

Dry fit everything before gluing the adapter. Just snug all fittings to allow adjustment. Then tighten everything when you are confident it all fits. Hand tight is usually all they need.

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  • Ah okay that all makes sense, my only question is it seems like traps are designed with the inlet and outlet at the same height, but in this case the inlet is a couple of inches higher than the outlet - what piece would I need for that?
    – Howdoireno
    Commented Aug 8 at 15:22
  • It sounds like this is where you need the tailpiece extension to lower the p-trap to the proper height to meet the drain in the wall. I added a picture to my answer.
    – RMDman
    Commented Aug 8 at 19:55
  • Unfortunately if you look at my second photo, there's only about an inch of extra space between the bottom of the 90 deg elbow and the bottpm of the cutout in the pedestal if that makes sense. Simply put, I don't think I can fit a extension and then a trap inline underneath the sink. Hopefully that makes sense. Or am I completely overthinking this?
    – Howdoireno
    Commented Aug 8 at 20:26
  • Have you tried to fit it? If it won't fit, your options are: 1- cut open the wall and raise the drain high enough to work. 2- See if the bottom brace of the sink can be cut. 3- get a new vanity and get rid of the pedestal sink. It looks like we all now know why the previous owner didn't put a p-trap in.
    – RMDman
    Commented Aug 8 at 21:04
  • You are not overthinking. It might not fit but it's worth trying.
    – jay613
    Commented Aug 8 at 21:17
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Use a bottle trap.

First try what rmdman suggests in another answer. If you can make that work, it's preferable. The trap kit suggested there is cheap and if it doesn't work it won't kill you to have a spare.

Bottle traps vary in exact size and shape, and vary wildly in price. You should be able to find one that isn't outrageously expensive and where the bottom of the trap fits inside the pedestal unlike the P trap.

It's not the best but your other options are to move the basin to the side so the trap can go outside it, or to move the wall drain up so a P trap fits in the pedestal or get a new sink.

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