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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Childproofing the Sink

Both of our bathrooms are equipped with standard-issue DIYer, prefab sink vanities, probably purchased by the last owner from Lowe's.

Right when we moved in we noticed a problem with the sink in the hall bathroom...one we knew would be an issue once we had children.

Can you see the problem?

There's no overflow hole! So if our darling child ever put the stopper in the drain and left the water on, there would be a flood. This a particular problem since we have laminate flooring in the adjacent hallway...and if moisture gets underneath that flooring, it will come apart (as in, de-laminate).

And as an experienced previous child, I know kids often do crazy things like forget they left the water on after they are done washing their hands...

Dave and I have discussed the options: to replace the sink or the whole vanity, to change to a corner sink so can open up the walking space in that part of the bathroom, etc. (See how narrow it is?)

Finally we just decided to remove the stopper mechanism in the drain since we never use it anyway.

Problem fixed, right? Nope.

Well, this morning Eddie discovered he could turn the water on in the master bathroom. He simply climbed up onto the toilet lid and was able to reach the water faucets. Dang. So I guess we will remove THAT sink's stopper, too. (And keep the door closed so he can't turn the water on in the first place...his short arms can only reach to the hot tap, which is another problem.)

His motivation this morning was the cup full of my and Dave's toothbrushes...he is OBSESSED with toothbrushes lately. I found him walking around the house with one in each hand.

The good news is that this house will be completely child friendly by the time the next baby comes along, whenever that happens!

4 comments:

Ms. said...

lol what kind of sink doesn't have an overflow? And yes that is so true. Our house and up and ready when Sam was born and/or your next kid won't care as much because they are chasing around their older brother

Kelly said...

Now I have to go check if our sink has an overflow, we have one of those prefab jobs too - saw our exact model at Home Depot :D

And there are worse things than being obsessed with toothbrushes! Eddie is going to have the cleanest teeth ever :D

Kelly said...

I checked, and our pre-fab sink also does not have an overflow. Well, at least now we know what to do when Renee starts playing with the faucets :D Thanks for the heads up Julie!

erin said...

i guess it's bad that i would have never thought to look for the overflow hole. i know both our sinks have one, but i dont think id recognize if they didnt..