Home > Remodel/Renovation Ideas > Sink Cabinet Removal-Water Shutoffs

Sink Cabinet Removal-Water Shutoffs

November 11th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

It’s very important to know the proper way to shut off the water underneath your cabinet before you start the removal process. There is a wrong way and a right way. If you do not turn the water valves off correctly you could end up with a leak. Learning how to avoid getting a leak under your cabinet or in the wall, while removing a sink cabinet or even just working on the plumbing, is important.

Steps for shutting off the water under a sink cabinet:

You may need a pair of channel locks. If your plumbing under the cabinet is really old, then I’m certain that you will need some sort of pliers. Channel locks work well because they are adjustable to large degrees.


1) Never just start turning the valve with only one hand. This is where many leaks inside the wall occur. Common sense should tell you this as you feel the pipe moving back and forth.

2) Always grab the plumbing pipe and steady it with one hand and use the other hand to turn whatever pipe it is that you are trying to shut off.

I cannot emphasis this point enough; you must hold the pipe firm so that it does not move around while you are trying to shut off the plumbing hot or clod water supply line.

Get into a comfortable position and turn on your patience. You should never be in a huge hurry when doing this type of work. The old adage “haste makes waste” is very true.

Once you get the valve turned completely off, it will be necessary for you to turn on the water using the sink to make sure that the shutoff process actually shut the water off.

If the plumbing is really old, then you may have to turn things off at the water main supply for the entire house.

That’s basically it for how to shut off the sink supply water lines when removing a cabinet. Always use two hands and keep the pipes from moving around as much as possible.

Tile Made Easy

  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.

*