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Bathroom sinks
Every bathroom needs some kind of sink, and
bathroom sinks come in many styles from the simplest to the most luxurious
and fancy. In many parts of the world, the bathroom sink is just a bowl,
basin, hollowed out gourd, discarded kitchen sauce pan, or a bucket, with
a source of water nearby. Sometimes the water is kept in a pitcher, a pan,
or a barrel with a ladle. Other times, there is running water, if only
from a barrel or cistern than has a valve or faucet attached to it, and
this kind of container is either refilled by hand or when it rains, by
collecting the rainwater. Some homes have special piping on the roofs or
gutters, that helps to divert rainwater into the containers, so that it is
easily available. And some sinks are natural, such as those found in old
remnants of Indian encampments, where a hollow in a stone was used as a
sink.
But for most of use in the world, bathroom sinks are basic plumbing
fixtures that come prefabricated from a factury. These are either attached
to the wall and hand from it by brackets and braces, or they are mounted
on top of a pillar or pedestal, as a free standing sink that is not
attached to a wall for support. The advantage of a wall mounted sink is
that it takes up less space, especially on the floor. Most of the sinks
that we see in the public restrooms of gas stations for example, are wall
mounted sinks, and the drain pipe under them is also attached through the
wall behind the sink. These do not touch the floor for any kind of
support, and then that leaves room for putting a trashcan or other objects
on the floor where a pedestal sink would take up the extra room. The
weakness of a wall mounted sink is that sometimes, especially if people
lean on the sink or sit on it, the brackets loosen and the sink will
become unstable, wobbly, and eventually the plumbing and the sink will
pull away from the wall and fall.
The most sturdy of all the designs for bathroom sinks is probably the ones
that are mounted like kitchen sinks, on top of counters and cabinets.
These sinks are very stable, because the wieght of the sink rests on the
furniture or cabinetry, and the cabinets are usually firmly attached to
both the walls and the floor, providing an excellent base with the ability
to support a great deal of weight, sometimes hundreds of pounds at once.
To see bathroom sinks, and to see how to mount them in a variety of ways,
visit any plumbing retail or wholesale center, where you can see not only
pictures and designs, but actual models of the various types of sinks and
mounting ideas.
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