REPLACING THE TRAP IN YOUR SINK

That sink trap finally failed and leaked all over the stuff stored in your vanity. The culprits are the old-fashioned brass fittings that came with your house. Dissimilar metals create corrosion (brass mounted on iron drain pipes) and eventually the metal fails. Drano or other caustic de-cloggers will accelerate this process. Place a basin under the trap to capture the escaping water. Turn the nuts counter-clockwise, removing the offending brass components.
Observe the large hole that resulted when I removed the trap. Just turning the nut on the trap snapped it. After you have removed the faulty brass trap set you will note more results of the corrosion - gunk built up in the drain pipe. Clean out as much as you can.
Visit your local hardware store (Home Depot or Lowe's) and buy yourself a 1¼ inch P-trap kit for lavatory as pictured on the right. These parts are molded from polypropylene which is corrosion resistant and may never need to be replaced again.
Lay out the parts you'll need. Cut the wall bend to the same length as the original brass part. You may be able to cut it a little longer.
I removed the original nut on the drain pipe. I installed the parts, tightening the original nut with the wrench, tightening the other nuts by hand. Note that they now have two large levers molded in to make hand tightening easy. A cold draft was coming through the large hole which the drain pipe passed through. This was packed with foam and taped over with duct tape to prevent the draft and invading insects, ants and roaches.
This is another satisfying project which might only take an hour or so and will save you the 75 bucks that the plumber will charge you for a house call. The part only costs $2.94 plus tax. And...you will be well on the way to becoming a handy man, or woman.