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Installing a Bathroom Vanity
By Kevin Ireland
Replacing a worn or outdated vanity is a quick and dramatic way to freshen a bathroom. With a little planning and a step-by-step approach, you can complete this makeover in a day. In fact, the biggest challenge may be just deciding which vanity to buy.
Here are some of the more important features to look for when you shop:
Enough storage. Combination vanities (see illustration) offer the most efficient storage. The drawers provide easy access to small objects, while the cupboard can handle the odd-size plunger, a humidifier or what have you.
Quality drawer slides. Avoid any vanity whose drawers run on center-mounted slides or on flimsy plastic guides. Such hardware won't stand up to heavy use. Also, stay away from wooden drawer guides, which can swell when your bathroom gets humid, causing the drawers to stick. Your best bet for durability and smooth operation: ball-bearing drawer slide hardware. |
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Well-made drawers. Cheap drawers are doweled or nailed together, and with regular use, the drawers can come apart after a few years. Better drawers are made with dovetail or lock joints.
Adequate bracing. Vanities with full backs stay plumb and level better than those with open backs and a single back rail.
Durable finish. The surface of a bathroom vanity has to handle high humidity, abrasive cleaners, spilled chemicals (like nail polish remover) and more. A tough polyurethane finish will hold up best.
What Size Vanity?
Modular vanities come in three standard depths 16, 18 and 21 inches and most are between 29 and 31 inches tall. But when it comes to width, you have many more choices. You'll find vanities 18, 24, 30, 36, 48 and even 72 inches wide.
Which size you choose will depend first on the amount of space available. How big is the bathroom? (A large vanity can overwhelm a small bathroom.) Will the vanity you've chosen leave enough space for comfortable maneuvering between the other fixtures? Will you have enough room to jockey the new vanity into place? Another important consideration is whether you intend to reuse the vanity top from your old unit. |
Step by Step: Out With the Old
1. Turn off the water supply. If you have hot and cold water valves inside the vanity, use them to turn the water off. Otherwise, turn off the main water valve in your house with a pipe wrench. Disconnect the water and drain lines: With an adjustable wrench, disconnect the supply tubes (pipes or tubing that go to the faucets) at the hot and cold water supply valves. (It's much easier to leave the supply tubes attached at the faucet and transfer them to the new faucet or replace them after you've taken off the vanity top.) Next, place a pan or bucket under the sink trap and remove the trap with a pair of adjustable pliers. (If you're concerned about damaging chrome fittings, wrap the jaws with cloth or tape.)
Locate and remove the screws that hold the vanity to the wall. The screws will either be in braces at the back corners of the vanity or in a rail that spans the back. Use a screwdriver or socket wrench to remove them. |
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2. Remove the sink or vanity top. If you have a one-piece vanity top, it's probably held in place with adhesive caulk. Use a 14-inch pry bar to separate the top from the vanity. Work carefully if you intend to reuse the top. If the sink sits in a cutout in a laminate-covered top, remove the tabs that hold the sink in place and lift the sink out. Either way, you'll reduce the weight of the vanity and make it easier to handle. With the pry bar, carefully separate the backsplash from the wall. Slip a wood shim behind the bar to minimize damage to the drywall. Remove any drawers or doors, and then check the floor in front of the vanity to see if it butts against the vanity or extends beneath it. If it butts against it, don't try to slide the vanity out of its place: you'll damage the floor if you do. Instead, use your pry bar to lift the front edge of the vanity, and then slide several wood shims under the edge. Slowly work the vanity out onto the floor and take it out of the bathroom.
3. Prepare the area. With the old vanity out, check the previously hidden walls and floor for damage. Here are a few things you may want to consider doing while you have easy access to the space:
- Repair rot. Leaks may have rotted the subfloor around and under the vanity. If you find the floor is springy when you bounce on it, replace the damaged sections with plywood.
- Replace damaged flooring. It's much easier to install new flooring, from vinyl to tile to hardwood, with the vanity out. You won't have to cut around the "footprint" of the vanity, you'll have more area to work in, and your new floor will be much more watertight. (You may want to check out our article on refurbishing old floor finishes, or if you have a tile floor, the one on how to renew grout.)
- Repair drywall. Check for water damage and repair or replace the drywall if necessary. (If you do have to repair damage, our articles on hanging and finishing drywall will be helpful.)
- Level the floor where the new vanity will sit. Use a carpenter's level to check the floor, both front to back and side to side. If it isn't level, you can use shims under the vanity, or, better, make a 3/4-inch plywood base for the vanity to sit on. Level the plywood with shims before you nail it in place.
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Step by Step: In With the New
1. Locate studs. Locate and mark the studs in the wall while you can get to it easily. It will simplify screwing the new vanity securely to the wall. (You may want to look at our article on ways to find the studs in your walls.) Make light marks on the wall to show the location of each stud. Put the marks where you'll be able to see them when you're installing the new vanity.
2. Mark pipe locations on the back of the vanity. First, figure exactly where the new vanity will go. Lightly draw vertical lines on the wall where the cabinet's edges will be. Next, mark the drainpipe's horizontal and vertical centerlines on the wall, making sure these reference lines are level and plumb, respectively. On the wall, measure from the mark for the nearest cabinet edge to the center of the drain line, and from the center of the drain line to the floor. Finally, measure the distance from the reference lines to the center of each of the supply pipes. Then transfer all three pipe locations to the back of the vanity, as shown in the drawing. (See our article on how to mark and measure for tips on doing this with greater accuracy.) |
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3. Cut holes in the vanity for water and drain lines. Mount a 1/4-inch twist bit in an electric drill and drill pilot holes at each of your layout marks. Then, mount a hole saw in your drill that is at least 1/2-inch larger than the widest part of your water and drain lines. To eliminate unsightly torn edges, drill part way through from the back, and then shift to the inside of the cabinet to finish the holes. Use the pilot holes to align your hole saw when you start drilling each hole.
Tip from the pros: If you have hot and cold water valves coming from your wall, remove the handles with a screwdriver. Without the handles, you can drill smaller holes in the back of your vanity for the water supply. Reattach the handles after the vanity's in. |
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4. Screw the vanity to the wall. With a helper, lift the vanity into place. Drill pilot holes in the vanity back for mounting screws; make sure the holes are aligned with the studs you located on the back wall. Use a bit one size larger than your screws when you bore through the vanity back, and one a size or two smaller to make pilot holes in the studs. Screw the vanity to the wall with 2 1/2-inch galvanized screws.
5. Install the faucet and sink. If your new vanity top has a sink built into it, lay it on the old vanity or on a pair of sawhorses so you have easy access to connect the faucet(s). (For a separate sink, see the note below.) Install the faucet, following the manufacturer's instructions, tightening the fittings with adjustable pliers.
Install flexible water supply lines on the faucets. (We recommend lines reinforced with braided stainless steel.) Tighten fittings a half turn past hand tight.
Attach the tailpiece to the sink, bedding its flange in a bead of silicone caulk (use a caulking gun). Make sure the connection for the sink pop-up faces toward the back of the sink, and then tighten the locknut to secure the tailpiece. |
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Install the sink. Run a bead of adhesive silicone caulk around the top edges of the vanity cabinet, around the top rail at the back of the cabinet and around the backsplash. With a helper, lay the countertop on the cabinet, centering it side to side. Push it back so that the backsplash adheres to the wall.
Note: If your sink is separate from the countertop, first install the top, then install the faucet in the sink. Finally, put the sink into the countertop, following the manufacturer's instructions.
6. Connect the plumbing and add trim. Working from inside the vanity, wrap Teflon tape around the threads on each water supply valve. (Many supply lines don't require tape. Read the instructions to see if you should skip this step.) Attach the supply lines to the supply valves, and tighten them a half turn past hand tight with adjustable pliers. Attach the sink trap to the drain line and to the tailpiece, following the manufacturer's instructions, and then add the pop-up control rod. Use clear silicone caulk to seal the seam where the top edge and sides of the backsplash meet the wall.
If the vanity doesn't fit flush against the back wall because the wall is uneven, you can disguise the gaps in two easy ways. First, you can buy prefinished 1/2-inch quarter-round molding to match the vanity and nail it in place. The molding will be flexible enough to bend into the gaps. Or, if the gaps aren't too great, you can fill them with a bead of colored caulk.
Hire a Pro?
If any or all of this job is something you'd like somebody else to handle, check out our Services channel. Our referral services will help you find trustworthy, prescreened professionals.
Kevin Ireland was formerly managing editor at both American Woodworker magazine and Rodale Woodworking and Do-It-Yourself Books. He was raised in a fixer-upper and has rebuilt three homes in the last 16 years.
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
Tape measure
Shims
14-inch pipe wrench
Galvanized screws
Adjustable wrench
Flexible supply lines
Bucket
Adhesive caulk
16-inch adjustable pliers
Teflon tape
Screwdriver
Clear silicone caulk
Socket wrench
14-inch pry bar
Carpenter's level
Stud finder
Electric drill
Drill bits
Hole saw
Caulking gun
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