Pro Handyman Blog

Our Las Vegas handyman service fixes lots of things. Leaks seem to be at the top of the list. A very common leak repair is under the sink. Plastic drain piping gets bumped around and will leak. Many of the sink drain leaks I find are where pipes are connected. For example, there will be a leak where the trap connects to the tailpiece. It is usually in the area of the slip fitting.

Most commonly we find that a slip washer is cracked or that the connection is loose. It’s funny, you don’t need any adhesive or Teflon tape for a leak-free joint here, but you would be amazed at the number of people that use it. The drain pipes are not under pressure, rather they are simply a vehicle to carry the waste to the sewer.

The slip washer is prone to cracking. It is triangular shaped and as the tailpiece enters the P-trap, the slip washer fills the tiny gap between the two. The slip nut gets screwed onto the threads of the trap and holds the slip washer in place so that there won’t be any leaks.

You can first try to tighten the slip nut to see if that fixes the leak. After that, remove the nut and disassemble the connection. Goose the slip washer up and check it for damage. A new one costs under a dollar and the assembly goes back together in a few minutes.