Leaking Sink Flanges, the Dummy Version

Plumber's putty sealing a sink flange

Of all the different DIY home repair projects, the two types that seem to be the scariest to the average homeowner are electrical work and plumbing. That's probably why just asking a plumber to look at a leaky faucet will cost you about eighty bucks... One consequence of the cost of keeping plumbers in suspenders and clean underwear is the proliferation of DIY instructions on the web. Unfortunately, many of them were written by people who'd never "done-it-themselves," so to speak. Take, for instance, Maxwell Payne, who penned boatloads of dumbassery for both eHow and Infobarrel (and probably other places we haven't found). This time, we found him at eHow (now niched at HomeSteady.com), where he tried to explain "How to Fix a Leak in a Kitchen Sink Flange"¹... but failed.

Payne displayed his plumbing ignorance right off the bat, claiming that

"Sink flanges connect and create a seal between the sink surface and the drain pipe or garbage disposal underneath. Over time the seal can break down due to a cracked gasket..."

No, Max, the flange doesn't "create a seal between the sink surface and the drain pipe." The flange is metal and the sink is metal; there must be a malleable substance between the two to create a seal -- silicone caulk or plumber's putty; not a gasket. After that inauspicious start, Payne begins the body of his instructions by telling his readers to

"Loosen the drainpipe with the adjustable wrench. If you see nuts and bolts connected to the underside of the sink, loosen the nuts instead, and gently push the bolts upward." Bolts "connected to the underside of the sink"? Where the frack did he get that idea? There will be a metal or plastic coupling on the drainpipe that resembles a gigantic nut, but there's no "bolts" involved. And that sure as hell isn't how you dismount a garbage disposal! No, Max, the sink flange is threaded and there's a large brass or stainless steel nut that tightens against the underside of the sink -- that's what you need to loosen once you've loosened the tailpiece (the pipe sticking down from the flange) from the sink or removed the garbage disposal. Dumbass... Max goes on to "explain" how to remove the flange:

"Lift out the flange on the top side of the sink. The flange is the framing of the sink drain and is thin metal. Carefully inspect the rubber gasket underneath for cracks or tears. The gasket is rubber and generally black in color, and is exposed once you life off the flange. If the gasket is torn or cracked, remove it and replace it with a new gasket."

Good luck finding a replacement gasket, Max, not to mention that the leak is far more likely to be due to deteriorated or insufficient plumber's putty... speaking of which, Payne doesn't bother to tell readers to clean off the old putty and simply says to

"Apply some plumber's putty in the small gap between the underside of the flange and the pipe or garbage disposal top where the nuts and bolts connect..."

...not only perpetuating his claim that there are bolts somehow involved, but also failing to explain just how to "apply" the plumber's putty. The dumbass! For the record, you roll the putty between your palms to make a "snake" about a quarter of an inch in diameter, then place a circle of putty in the depression around the drain opening. As you tighten the flange in place, excess putty will squeeze out all around the lip to make a watertight seal.

But no, Maxwell Payne (BS in "integrated science, business and technology" or not) has no idea what he's talking about. For his contribution to the stupidification of the internet, we here at the Antisocial Network do hereby present to Mr. Payne his fourth Dumbass of the Day award and second in the category of plumbing.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_12142356_fix-leak-kitchen-sink-flange.html

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