An access door provides accessibility, security, and storage to your establishment’s essential components, sometimes with additional benefits such as insulation, fire-rating, soundproofing, and many more. These benefits can shine in the kitchen, especially on the kitchen sink. What the access door does is that products can enhance the kitchen sink’s overall functionality.
Enhancing the Kitchen Sink’s Functionality
The kitchen sink is the bowl-like plumbing fixture you see whenever you enter the kitchen. It is the most common kitchen accessory there, which is also detachable. It provides a basin so the user can do the following:
- Dishwashing
- Washing food such as fruits, vegetables, and meat
- Cleaning hands
- Providing hot or cold water
So basically, the primary function of the kitchen sink is to provide you with clean water to use with a basin and a drain for hygienic disposal of the used water.
The way that access doors help with the enhancement functionality of the kitchen sink is that this door maintains the kitchen sink’s functionality since the access doors contribute to the maintenance, repair, and replacement of this plumbing fixture. With the access doors installed, you can easily access the hidden pipes in wall cavities to perform the needed actions quickly.
The access door provides quick and easy access to the plumbing fixtures to help keep the sink free from plumbing problems and keeps the kitchen sink in tip-top shape!
Access Doors for Kitchen Sinks
Access doors have many variations that cater to many aspects of the construction area. Here we will only focus on the access doors perfectly synced with the kitchen sink. Here’s a list of those access doors and panels:
Variant #1: General Purpose Access Doors
The general-purpose access door is a popular product due to its versatility. Its functionality and durability are enough for any application, including plumbing applications for the kitchen sink.
Variant #2: Plumbing Access Doors
This type of access door is the perfect product for servicing kitchen sinks with its state-of-the-art engineering tailored to provide quick and easy access to plumbing fixtures to maintain the quality of the water flow in your establishment.
Variant #3: Plastic Access Panels
Most access doors and panels consist of plywood or steel, promising materials, but plastic access panels shine on plumbing applications. The reason is that plastic cannot experience rust and corrosion, which makes it perfect for such applications. Another thing to remember about plastic access panels is that they are lightweight, which means installations are a breeze.
Variant #4: Plumbing Access Hatch
Depending on the build of the establishment, you can find that its plumbing systems extend to its ceiling, and the plumbing access hatch is what you need to provide access to these systems.
Tips On Getting the Right Access Door for Your Kitchen Sink
To further enhance the functionalities of the kitchen sink, you must purchase the most effective product, but how? Here are some tips you can follow in buying the right access door to meet your needs:
Tip #1: Determine the purpose of getting an access door
Before you go out there and shop for an access door, you must determine the purpose of needing one. Depending on the application required, these doors come in many sizes, functions, and paint finishes. Determine where you will install the access door, commercial or residential. If commercial, identify the type of commercial establishment, restaurants, prisons, hospitals, or banks.
Finally, determine what kind of benefit you want besides accessibility, security, and storage. These benefits include fire-rating, acoustical, plumbing, weatherproof, coastal, or flushed. In your case, the plumbing benefit is what you need,
Tip #2: Check your budget
Checking and considering your budget is essential when purchasing products, especially on access doors. Why do you ask? Installing the wrong access door wastes time and resources, so you must prepare for emergency spending. Prepare enough money to buy two or more units in case the need for it arrives and extra for emergencies.
Tip #3: Get the proper material
Access panels vary on many things, and the material is one of them. Identify the type of material you need for your construction or installation project. In dealing with plumbing fixtures, you will need materials that are immune to rust and corrosion or have the right amount of resistance to these two damaging elements, which are plastic and stainless steel.
Tip #4: Prepare other options
You can’t control certain situations in purchasing products, such as shortages or non-availability. It’s best to prepare a list of optional products you can buy if there are none. If no plumbing access panels exist, get a general-purpose or universal access door, as these products do the job.
Types of Plumbing Problems
An unkempt kitchen sink attracts plumbing problems that can affect kitchen work, which is worse in a commercial setup. To avoid experiencing difficulties in the kitchen, install innovative access doors such as the Cendrex AHD-SS Stainless Steel Flanged General Purpose Panel that applies to many applications, including plumbing components.
Here is a list of plumbing problems that you can avoid or quickly solve when you have access doors installed to keep the kitchen sink functional and the kitchen work undisturbed:
Plumbing Problem #1: Clogged Kitchen Sink
One of the common problems you will see in the kitchen is a clogged kitchen sink. A busy kitchen means many things coming into the kitchen sink besides water, such as cooking oil, coffee grounds, beans, and soap scum. All of these can clog the sink and cause a delay in the kitchen. Another problem that may arise in having a clogged kitchen sink is its horrendous smell due to the combination of what keeps your drain clogged.
Plumbing Problem #2: Leaking Faucets or Pipes
Another common problem in plumbing fixtures is leakages in the kitchen sink’s faucet or pipes. The water dripping caused by leakages can chip away the flooring little by little, and along with the destruction of the flooring, it causes a nuisance because of the dripping noise it produces that can interfere with your concentration.
Plumbing Problem #3: Low Water Pressure
This type of plumbing problem is unacceptable in the kitchen as the workers there will need water to prepare the food ingredients and clean the used kitchen equipment and the kitchen itself. A dirty and unkempt kitchen can cause problems with the health inspector when functioning as a commercial restaurant.
Plumbing Problem #4: Mold, Rust, and Corrosion
The kitchen sink mainly deals with water, and with materials exposed to water, the creation of mold, rust, and corrosion can happen. These three damaging elements are enormous problems in the kitchen as the three can spread not only in the kitchen sink but throughout the whole kitchen, which means you must immediately act if there are early signs of these three.
Early signs of mold include; a strange musty smell, water issues, growing dark stains on walls or ceilings, and peeling of your wallpapers. Early signs of rust and corrosion include; colors of red, black, or white deposits on metal surfaces and degradation of the metal surface.
How to Fix These Problems with The Help of an Access Door
Fix #1: On Clogged Kitchen Sinks
The access door can solve this plumbing problem by providing quick and easy access to the kitchen sink pipe to locate its P-trap. By quickly finding the pipe’s P-trap, you can unclog the pipe from there by opening it and promptly returning it to place. Other fixes besides using the access door include utilizing a plunger, chemicals, or homemade mixtures and removing visible blockages.
Fix #2: On Leaking Faucets of Pipes and Low Water Pressure
The access door’s help in these two problem also provides quick and easy access to the pipe’s U-joint and the pipe itself. The fix to do here ranges from tightening, losing, or even replacements. Calling a professional on this is the right move if it needs replacements.
Suppose the fix to these two plumbing problems is related to the main water valve. In that case, installing access doors can provide the proper storage for this necessary valve, protecting it from tampering. You can easily use the valve to eliminate the problems.
Fix #3: On Molds, Rust, and Corrosion
The scary thing about these three damaging elements is that they spread throughout almost anything it touches. Installing access can prevent these from spreading from the kitchen sink to the whole kitchen because of the access door’s material. Materials such as steel and plastic are the ones you need for your access door to fight the spread of these three.
Plastic possesses immunity to mold, rust, and corrosion, while steel or stainless steel are anti-corrosive materials that can withstand and last for a long time.
Final Thoughts
Access doors do not only provide the benefit of accessibility, security, and storage. These innovative products also enhance one’s functionalities, such as the functions of a kitchen sink. An improved kitchen sink means an efficient kitchen, so install an access door now!
