Laundry Sink: New Plan, Different Old Sink

After milling through the salvage yards a while back, I posted earlier that I had decided on the concrete laundry sink since it is readily available and era appropriate. But something always felt off about it - mainly how ugly they always looked and how they usually had hairline cracks and would need a special epoxy to fill the cracks and hold water. Since we're not in a huge rush for a laundry sink, we were waiting for one that was cheap or free and looked good and was the right width. One popped up that was a deep single bowl sink and Christina said that it would be enough sink for us which made me think we could fill the rest of the space with a countertop. It would also work well since the faucet isn't centered at 1/2 way or 3/4 of the way on the backsplash. (Centered on 3/4 would mean the faucet would be centered on the second bowl of the sink which is better than nothing). Any double sink was going to look odd. I measured for a 48" sink or 42" sink and there was no clear way to cheat either sink a little to one side or the other to make it look right by having the sink centered between the bowls or centered on one of the bowls.

I started thinking about the single bowl idea again and I would be able to center the sink on the wall faucet (which couldn't be moved without replacing original tiles which would be a different color). Going back to the start... I thought how about an antique sink, but single bowl and maybe not concrete and I searched for '27 sink and found one that had sold in L.A. The picture got me excited with the cool old style of it -

Hey those look like "Carthage" tiles from Tunisia!  The spacer on the bottom of the stand is because the sink is probably 30-33" tall max while kitchen countertops are 36"

The sink has an interesting feel to it. The stand reminds me of "peg leg" pedestal bathroom sinks of the time. 

The one for sale in L.A. was sold but it looked just one I had seen on Craigslist and I checked and it was still for sale and had the cool stand!

I found the sink for sale locally with the same stand for $200. I'm not paying that but it's been up for a while so I bet I could get them down.

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I found the sink I wanted and built an old school countertop around it. The red clay tiles are still easy to get. The cobalt blue sink trim had to be special ordered as the inside corner quarter round tiles - called AUs - are only used to tile in sinks which people don't do much anymore. 

The front edge tile is vintage to match the yellow of the backsplash. The original wood side piece was in the living room closet. The wall faucet is still sold at Home Depot. I really like how this looks!

More plumbing fixtures

Couple things I mentioned in the last post. ..

Here's that lavender bath set I mentioned. The house has wall tank toilets. This one doesn't have its tank but I have a white one from the original downstairs toilet. I would like to restore one of these 5 gallon flush wall toilets for the master bath and convert it to dual flush. But for now I'll stick to regular toilets until I have time.

Lavender bath set circa '28-30s. '28 is the first year for color and wall tank toilets were phased out sometime in the 30s I would guess. The toilet would have a brass tube that comes out the back and curves up into a 5 gal. tank bolted to the wall.

I would like to add a bathtub to the master bath. A tub like this is very similar to the original in the house. Circa late '20s

For the laundry, I think something like this may have been there originally.

The reason I say that is - 

-There is a tile backsplash that is 46" long, 46&3/4" if you remove the plaster, and this one below is 47".

-This is something that was used in the '20s

The holes in the back of it are to bolt it to the wall with large washers.

Summary: 

The concrete sink is readily available and affordable. It is era correct. It fits the space. I think it will work well

Sink-in'

Got a sink today for the downstairs bath. Upon realizing 2 of 3 bath sinks had been replaced around '39-'50, it became glaringly obvious that they did not match the other fixtures or the house. A lot of time when working on old houses, I aim for cohesion. Along with updating the plumbing, foundation, electrical etc, I try to clear away the years of random fixes and "updates" done to the house because they are usually crappy. If I can afford to buy the house, it's usually so ugly and crappy that banks won't even finance it because it's unliveable. 

My logic for making the house cohesive is simple - I use the original style as a guide. I usually love the original style of houses made in the '60s or before. I just have to undo the "updates" they did in the '70s, '80s and '90s which match the style of the time but usually look dated in retrospect. It's easy to make the house look right - you just have to go with the flow and not force hard lines of modernism onto your craftsman bungalow, for example. 

I'm ranting again. Anyway... 

Sinks of the 1900s to 1920s and 30s are round. They have round, large radius edges. All the way through 1928 when Crane came out with first colored porcelain bathroom sets (which are super cool and I want to use for the master bathroom), they were round. I don't know if this is because they were usually cast iron during this period instead of solid porcelain or glazed steel, but it may have something to do with it.

Here is the original 1927 tub. Round round round. Round edge, round basin, round knobs:

And here is a sink from the upper bath, possibly original. How nice and round the bowl.

Then here is the sink from '47 that was added at some point, on the left:​

SQUARE. It's seems as though someone invented square fixtures, and it blew everyone's mind because nearly all sinks switched to this style in the '40s. Above on the right is another sink I am selling. It is a pre-war Crane Drexel sink which was made from around 1930-1970. It's rounder, but still square edged. (You can tell it's pre-war by the knobs which were bon bon shaped after the war.) It's a beautiful sink, but my plan is to make the bathrooms all '20s, even though the master bath was probably added when a lot of work was done in '39. Again, I'm going mostly for cohesion and not so much accuracy to the additions made through the '50s because this house is a mess design-wise.

Drexel hanging out in the M bath has got to go. "It's not you, I swear. I think you're a great sink. It's just that we're too different... not to mention the 13 year age difference," said the house. 

I found a wall sink the right size and feel at Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley (so awesome). It was $75 which I think is fair. It has round edges! I know it has a similar shape to the old one, but it fits better I think.

It didn't come with the metal hanger brackets so I had to make some with steel washers and long zinc coated bolts. They feel solid. 

I wanted the main sink edge at 33" high. Kitchen sinks are 36" high for reference. The '47 sink was this high so I went with it. Pulling off the '50s bamboo weave exposed bolt holes, likely where the old sink hangers were. It's hard to see in the picture, but the front edge top of the sink is exactly 4" from the bottom and the hangar lip is 8" from the bottom.

11" on center (O.C.)

It's up! The sticker glue on the side needs to be cleaned off. The wood trim sticking out on either side is for hand towels, I believe. Putting fresh towels on there will give it a nice fresh old-bath-still-being-used-and-loved feel.

Many sinks and toilets have a stamp on the bottom, often the date, but not always. The cross knobs would be unusual for something from '51, as would be the overflow style (those three holes for in case you leave the water running) and cast iron build. 

The two late 30s to 40s sinks earlier in the post are both porcelain. It makes sense for something hanging from the wall to be less heavy so that if the porcelain sink comes off the wall, it might be held up by the chrome uprights (water supply lines) and the chrome p-trap drain. If this sink comes off, it's going down and ripping out plumbing with it and that would be a big mess. Better tighten down those hangers and make sure to tell roomates where the nice new red handled water main shutoff for the house is located...

Lunch break sink shopping!

Took a longer lunch break today to check out sinks at Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley with Evan. He needed a 20" sink for the downstairs bath, which he should be writing about soon. I found one we liked on their website yesterday and went in to check it out and ended up with a different one that was less pricey and still awesome. 

"to buy sink or not to buy sink"

the winner!