Any Advice on Installing a Faucet on a Bathroom Sink?

[SeattleVet]

31. If it's a home DIY plumbing job...

you should always expect the unexpected, and anticipate at least 3 trips to the hardware store. (If it doesn't take at least 3 trips, I figure that it's either not a real project, or I missed something!)

The last time I tried to replace what I thought was a leaky p-trapin a bathroom sink, it turned out to be the sink basin itself that had rotted out around the drain...

then the drain pipe attached to the trap crumbled in my hand when I put a wrench on the trap...

and I eventually wound up replacing everything from the wall on out...sink, drain, trap, and pretty much everything that was attached to anything, including the fixtures because, of course, the new sink had a totally different configuration than the old one, and the old fixtures wouldn't fit the new sink.

2 or 3 years later we tore down the house and built a new one on the foundation.

Today we had to go out to two different stores to get the (wrong) washer and an O-ring to fix a dripping freeze-proof outdoor spigot. I though it was a size 00 flat washer, grabbed a pack of ¼" since they didn't have any size 00 in stock, figuring I could trim them to size. I did find a size 00 beveled washer, and trimmed off the beveled portion to make it flat, and now everything works again.

Home plumbing isn't usually a lot of fun, but it sure can get interesting at times!