Plastic insert in drain of cultured marble lavatory

[Williamson]

I'm preparing to install a cultured marble countertop onto a bathroom
vanity. I've noticed that the drain hole of the integral sink has what
appears to be a plastic insert around the interior of the drain hole. I
can't decide if this insert is a result of the manufacturing process
(molding for the drainhole) or if it is an engineered part of the finished
product (strengthen the drainhole against crazing?). It is apparent that to
install the drain, this plastic will have to be trimmed from around the top
(bowl surface side) of the drainhole, or removed entirely. Does anyone know
the purpose of this insert? And is it safe to remove it?

Thanks,
Gary Williamson
willi...@compuserve.com

[TinMan1332]

It is indeed left from the casting/molding process. You can completly remove
the plastic w/o negative results or fears.

J.P.

[Sean Smith]

In article <19990308222354...@ng149.aol.com>, tinma...@aol.com
says...

Well, after installing around 200 of these cultured marble (plaster of
paris lookalikes) vanitee tops, they started out with just a cast drain area
and then later models had the plastic insert there to strengthen the drain
area.

I probably depends greatly on the construction of the unit. The ones I
was using were meant to have the plastic insert left intact, otherwise the
drain outlet would have been too large to securely set the pop-up.

Sean

[TinMan1332]

> Well, after installing around 200 of these cultured marble (plaster of
>paris lookalikes) vanitee tops, they started out with just a cast drain area
>and then later models had the plastic insert there to strengthen the drain
>area.
>
> I probably depends greatly on the construction of the unit. The ones I

>was using were meant to have the plastic insert left intact, otherwise the
>drain outlet would have been too large to securely set the pop-up.

Then let's tell him to trim the insert flush and leave it in. The ones I have
seen were so flimsy that they could not possibly strengthen or resize anything.

J.P.

[Williamson]

TinMan1332 <tinma...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19990309202739...@ng-fd1.aol.com>...

After reading TinMan's first reply, I removed the insert. I wouldn't call
it flimsy so it might have been for structural support. There was a 2-inch
nipple attached which went up the overflow bypass. Taking it out made it
easier to install the pop-up. Since I can't put the insert back, I'll just
'live' with it.

Gary Williamson
willi...@compuserve.com

[Michael Curran]

I took the plastic insert out (busted up) and would like to replace, any suggestions where to get a new one?

[James Davis]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I took out the insert without realizing it was part of the drain construction... now the connection to the newly installed drain plug isn't the best. Did you find a way to replace it?

Thanks,
James.