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Our new apartment doesn't have the plunge style drain cover in our bathroom sink. Instead, it has a cover that hinges in the center, rotating around that point. So it physically has to be pushed in order to close.

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However, I think the seal is too large and it can't easily be closed.

I'd like to either figure out a way to easily open and close the cover without touching it, or figure out a way to remove it and replace it with a fine mesh grating like this or this.

Our drains have to stay closed when we're not using them because the climate that I live in (the desert) means that when it gets warm the water traps dry up which allows bugs to crawl up from the sewers and out through your drains.

Any advice?

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  • If you have to keep the drains closed to keep the drain traps from drying up, then a mesh cover isn't going to work - it'll let the water dry out as quickly as an open drain would. Though I'd be surprised if the trap in a sink that's used regularly can dry that quickly - I checked with a friend that lives in dry Arizona, and she had never heard of keeping drains closed to keep the traps from drying.
    – Johnny
    Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 18:44
  • @Johnny ah I think you misunderstood me. I apologize for not being clear. It's not to keep the traps from drying. It's to keep bugs from crawling out when the traps do dry.
    – spacetyper
    Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 22:10

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Look underneath for a large plastic hex bolt holding the drain in place.

Disconnect the P/U trap and unscrew that bolt. You will need to apply a bit of force to break the caulking.

Putting in a new one will require also putting in some caulking. The new plug will come with instruction to that effect.

There are drains with a plug that is operated with a lever behind the tap. This may be what you are looking for as a solution.

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    Often you have to replace the tap too as the push/pull lever mechanism is usually built into the tap base.
    – RedGrittyBrick
    Commented Oct 25, 2015 at 16:20

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