On 01 Sep 2003, Lorne wrote:

The living room has a 6-foot wide wet bar area with a sink at one end.
We've never used the faucets and sink, so we plan to remove it all
and replace the countertop to give us a usable 6-foot flat surface.

The house does not have copper pipe - all of the supply lines are grey
PVC. For this particular sink, the hot and cold supply come out of
the floor and go directly to the faucet. I don't have access to the
connection in the basement because the ceiling is finished. So what I
have is two tubes coming from the floor.

Removing the sink seems easy, and closing off the drain doesn't look
that complicated. But clearly I have to securely close off these
supply lines, and make sure the suckers don't leak. Since I can't do
it at source in the basement, I have to install some kind of valves
under the sink to shut it all off. I've never done this or seen it
done.

So before I go to the home depot and ask for advice there, what wisdom
can this group offer me?

Cut 'em and cap 'em.

Assuming you have a saw of some sort, you'll need 2 caps (buy 4,
in case you screw up, they're not removable) PVC cleaner/primer
and PVC adhesive/cement.

Turn off the main water supply valve and the one going in to your
water heater, open the faucets and drain as much water as possible
before you cut the pipes. DON'T try to cut them too close to the
floor, leave a nice long stub in case the next home owner wants
to use them again. In fact, if you screw up the next step, YOU
will have to cut some more off, so leave as much stub as you can
stand (it's going to be hidden under the sink anyway, right?)

If you have NEVER worked with PVC pipe and adhesive before, please
do some more research or get somebody to help who is experienced.
While it's a fairly simple process, there is no room for error, the
adhesive sets up QUICKLY, and if you don't get it coated properly
you will have leaks.

Cut the pipes with just about any saw (jig-, circular-, chain- g)
DRY them thoroughly, CLEAN them thoroughly, and use plenty of
adhesive to apply the caps. By all means have somebody standing
there looking for leaks as you turn the water back on. You could
use valves insted of caps, but that leaves you exposed to somebody
(kids, grandkids?) opening them by accident and sending you for
the mop (or the homeowner's insurance).

--
TP