I have a problem with my bathroom sink:

It has an old lead pipe coming out of the wall, and the white waste pipe from the basin just goes straight in with no fitting. As a result, it leaks. Can I bodge a seal round this that will stop the leak?

I’ve had a plumber round to ask about doing it properly and it will mean stripping the wall back and arsing round trying to trace the pipe back and try and cut it and put a new fitting on – he wasn’t keen. It’s something to do in the future maybe, but for now what is the best thing to use to attempt a sealing job?

Non professional idea # 1
Can you find a modern fitting that fits inside the lead (that fits with nowdays std fittings), then use a ‘space filler’ – like old plastic bags etc to force pack around the insert and then cap it off with a watertight seal (araldite, putty, mastic) then just use modern fittings to link.

ie will a piece of white pipe go a couple of inches down inside the lead and seal that then use std bits to link white pipes.

To clarify I’m suggesting you use packing material so that the ‘rigid/hard to get out/messy’ seal material is only a thin layer at the top of the join (ie then you can get it out when it fails/doesn’t work etc). Also if you get rigid sealant down inside the lead I suspect that might cause bigger problems.

Bodgey option… cut the lead pipe about 40mm from the wall (at the end of the straight section) then fit a modern u-bend/bottle trap with a compression fitting. The compression fitting should have enough movement to fit nicely over the lead pipe and seal.

Or for an even more bodgey option. Take apart the existing joint, clean, smear with silicon and re-assemble. There is hardly any pressure there.

silicone sealant

Yep I’d go for the compression fitting. As mentioned it will have a bit of give in it. However I’d be tempted to try and connect it on the vertical. Less chance of it leaking as the joint won’t have water sitting on it for that long. If you do it on the horizontal then you potentially have water sitting on your less than perfect joint.

Thanks for the ideas all – I guess I’ll try the simplest first and just use silcone sealant and see how that gets on. If I wanted to cut the pipe would I just hacksaw it?

I’ve used a bit of rubber pipe with a ~ 40 mm id and some hose clips as a bodge before. Pipe came off of old washing machine, looked pretty neat once finished. Water tight and lasted for years.