Sink Installation near you

Approved Document G summarises the work that Schedule 4 to the Building Regulations treats as not notifiable. The list includes replacing a washbasin, sink, bidet, fixed bath or shower, and replacing a sanitary convenience with one that uses no more water than the one it replaces — but only where the work does not include any work to underground drainage, or to the hot or cold water system or above-ground drainage which could prejudice the health and safety of any person on completion. A like-for-like sink swap normally sits inside that exemption; rerouting the waste into the stack does not.

Where the work does go further, that still does not automatically mean an application to the council. Under regulation 12(6) of the Building Regulations it is not necessary to notify a building control body in advance of work covered by Approved Document G if the work is of a type set out in Schedule 3 and is carried out by someone registered with the relevant competent person scheme. GOV.UK lists the current schemes, which for wholesome water supply and bathroom fixtures in dwellings include APHC, BESCA, Certsure, HETAS and NAPIT, and the occupier must be given a certificate confirming compliance within 30 days of the work being completed.

Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own building standards systems. The Scottish technical handbook for domestic buildings expects a wash hand basin to be close to a WC or waterless closet, either within the toilet or in an adjacent space giving sole access to it, and requires a door separating a space containing a WC from a room or space used for the preparation or consumption of food — a rule worth knowing before a cloakroom is planned off a kitchen.

A good installer starts by finding out how the appliance can be isolated. Schedule 2 to the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 requires water supply systems to be capable of being drained down and to be fitted with an adequate number of servicing valves and drain taps so as to minimise the discharge of water when fittings are maintained or replaced, and requires enough stopvalves to isolate parts of the pipework. In an older house those valves often do not exist, and fitting them is part of the job rather than an extra.

The sequence itself is unglamorous: dry-fit the bowl in the cut-out, fit the taps and wastes while the sink is still accessible and not yet fixed down, seal and secure it, then connect supplies and waste and test. Testing means filling the bowl and releasing it in one go rather than running the tap gently, because a slip nut that holds against a trickle will often weep under a full bowl.

Leave the silicone to cure before the sink is used in earnest, and keep the paperwork that comes with the bowl and the tap. The manufacturer's instructions usually set out what the guarantee depends on, including the sealant and fixings used.

The second bowl is the most-debated decision in a British kitchen and the one most often regretted. A single large bowl takes an oven shelf or a roasting tin, which a pair of half bowls will not; two bowls suit a household that washes up by hand and wants somewhere to rinse. A drainer that is part of the sink saves the worktop but eats the run of usable surface next to it, which matters in the narrow kitchens of terraced and semi-detached houses.

Where a dishwasher lives changes the rules rather than just the habits. Approved Document G says a sink should be provided in any kitchen or place used for the preparation of food, and adds that where a dishwasher is provided in a separate room that is not the principal place for the preparation of food, an additional sink need not be provided in that room. So a utility room with the dishwasher in it does not automatically need its own sink, while the kitchen always does.

LokalMatch handles only the first step of that: you describe the sink or basin, where it is going and your postcode once, and fitters and plumbers working in your area contact you, having paid for the request. LokalMatch does not fit anything, has no influence over what anyone charges, and does not vet, rank or recommend the businesses that get in touch, so compare what each quotation includes — particularly the worktop cut-out, new valves and making good.