Hi all,

I'm thinking of adding a soap dispenser to my bathroom sink, a project which will involve drilling a new hole in the faucet deck to accommodate the new addition. All the plumbing books I've read warn me to use the proper drilling technique for whatever material the sink is made of. So I decided to try to find out what my bathroom sink is made of. After some trial and error, I found my sink on the Kohler website. Apparently, it's called the K-2170-8S Lady Vanity™ self-rimming lavatory. Here's what the one on the Kohler website looks like:


According to that page, "This hard-working sink is crafted of vitreous china and finished with our exclusive KOHLER glaze to resist staining, scratching and chipping and maintain its lustrous sheen for years to come." So my questions are:

1) What is the proper technique for drilling a hole in vitreous china without doing anything hideously stupid to the rest of the sink? (Note: I have a Dremel XPR 400, if it helps any.)
2) Should I be worried about the "exclusive KOHLER glaze" - i.e. will it somehow affect the drilling procedure? And will I ruin the glaze surrounding the project area?

Thanks in advance,
Moishe

dmatos

You're probably going to want to get a glass (or tile) drill bit to use in a variable speed drill. Use it on a slow speed setting, and use lots of lubricant to keep the bit from overheating.

speedball1

Moshie,
While I have put many a hole in stainless steel sinks I have never attempted to drill through a vitreous china lavatory. I would approch this with extreme caution. Having said that drilling China can't be so much different from drilling tile. As Dmatos said, use a masonry bit, slow speed and lots of water.
I would also make very sure that the item I was installing had a plate that was large enough to cover any rough or chipped spots around the hole. You might want to consider drilling the cabinet instead of the lavatory. Good luck. Tom PS. Nice looking lavatory.

PalmMP3

Thanks for the compliment.

I'm afraid drilling the cabinet is not much of an option: as you can see from the attached picture, there isn't any room between the edge of the sink and the nearby walls.

I think I'm gonna put this project on hold indefinitely.

Cheers,
Moishe

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