To trap or not to trap, that is the question.
Whether ‘tis Nobler using the sink to smell
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Plumbing,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of crap contractors,
And by opposing – end them!
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural odors
That sewage is heir to? ‘Tis a P-trap
Devoutly to be wished. To die from stink,
To gag, perchance to Heave; Aye, there’s the rub.
There are times I feel like breaking into a Hamlet-like soliloquy! This was one of those times!
This is one cute installation!
My client asked what a P-trap is and why the trap was necessary.
I believe in object lessons. Asking him to close the bathroom door I turned on the shower in the other bathroom. And we waited.
A couple of minutes later I asked him to open the bathroom door. He got the message. It then became easier to explain a P-trap.
We derive our word "plumbing" from the Latin word for the metal "lead" - which is plumbum. And for plumber - plumbere, a worker in lead. In Rome, plumbing pipes, and fixtures, were made from lead. On the atomic chart the symbol for lead is Pb. Now you know why.
As regards this installation, what do you think?
1. It's a flip
2. It's a homeowner remodel
3. It's new construction
4. It's wrong, so it don't mattah
To grunt and sweat under this cabinet sink,
When in the end he may his full Quietus make,
With a curved compression fit, who would this inhale,
But for a hope of something fresher after breath?
Which puzzles the brain, and doth confound the sense,
Which makes us rather bear those evils we have,
Than fly to traps that we know not of.
My recommendation: at times we want the crap contractor* to get the plumbum out. But alas! 'Tis not so! They will be with us until the end of time. And the homeowner who sees how to DIY on TV, and thinks he can do it in one half an hour. 'Tis not so! There are traps under sinks and tubs for a reason! There is water in the bottom of your toilet for a reason! Do you think the trap can be avoided? 'Tis not so! Aye, but forsooth, the crap can be.
* Did you like that play on words in the soliloquy?
Oh, the correct answer up there is number 2.
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