Is there any easy way to loosen plumbing adhesive that may have been used to seat a the basin flange in a bathroom sink? I'm trying to completely replace the hardware on a bathroom sink and need to know how best to get the old flange out that is in the basin of the sink.

Are you speaking of the flange around the drain? If so, then you're in for a real battle. The drain is not supposed to be put in with adhesive. It's supposed to be plumbers putty.

Up under it you should find a nut that you can unscrew. Unscrew it and see if you can shove it up and out of there. It may be that it IS plumbers putty and that it's just stuck real good.

If it is truly an adhesive, then you may very well not be able to get it out at all, I am sorry to say.

If I'm not understanding correctly what you mean by "basin flange", please clarify.

I once had a lavatory drain flange that was frozen to the nut below. I used a Dremel tool with a small cut-off wheel to section the flange. Then I was able to pry out the pieces. Good luck.

Sounds like a plan to me. Sectioning it would certainly make it easier to pry up. Thanks for the advice.

Rickj:
You have the correct flange in mind and to be honest I'm not sure whether it is affixed with plumbers' putty or adhesive. I haven't tried to remove it yet, but will be working on it today. Let's hope the former homeowner knew his/her plumbing and it is only plumbers' putty I have to deal with. Thanks for your reply.

If it's plumbers putty then you're in luck. That stuff gets to be pretty "adhesive" over the years, so if you can loosten the nut underneath, tap it upwards with a rubber mallet and it should pop right out.

Good luck!

I had very old sink to replace. All efforts to turn it failed. Tapping with mallet did not help either. So, I took reciprocal sow and made 2 cuts in vertical parts of the faucet. It is important to make cuts in upper and down sides of the vertical tube in regard of position as you seat in bath and look into the hole. It will be explained later why it is important.

Insert the sow very carefully and keep it at certain height so that the blade does not hit the bottom of the sink when it moves back and force. I cut the “cross” as well, but I am not sure you need to do that. After you cut the vertical part of the sink take the dremmel cut-off and cut the flanges. The most delicate cutting is required at the edge of the rim as it seats right on the bath. You do not want to damage enamel on the bath. So, I cut almost through at the edge and then took a chisel and brake the “bridge” at the rim's edge holding the chisel parallel to the bottom of the bath.

Make a small hole on flanges of both parts of the sink. Insert a chisel into the hole and hammer each side off the wall (now you understand why position of the cuts is important as I said before). When both parts of the sink become loose unscrew and remove the sink.