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At the gaff I'm helping to make habitable, there was a joint conclusion the basin taps should be changed. The owner didn't want the waste changed but at £5, it was a no-brainer so it was getting changed regardless. Flushed with success of (finally) overcoming every hurdle thrown at me by my own bathroom basin, I decided "we" wouldn't wait for the plumber to do the tap change. Looked like an easy job if I'm honest... (Never is though.) The previous installer has used 'push-fit' adapters on the tails of the taps, so disconnection - on paper at least - would be simple. And unlike the previous kitchen tap job, the supplies had isolation valves. Yay! So, off I went... The first tap was fairly straightforward, not least because it had already been loose for about a year I know of. There was a fair amount of Plumbers Mait (PM) around the base that had been used as a sealer, but years ago I guess that was typical. The other tap ... That was quite a different story. The PM had properly gummed up the thread of the back-nut, but with a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing it gave up and the second tap was released. The Speedfit connections were full of oxidized copper, but functioned still. Some water and a brush cleaned them up. No idea if the seals were still good though. The real problem, was getting the trap separated from the basin waste. PM had been used again, and while everyone says this stuff never goes hard, I think 10-15 years of exposure to heat and light WILL harden it. Certainly the threaded collar on the trap was locked hard enough to let the collar grips be torn off before it would rotate. Out with the thin saw blade with handle that I used on the kitchen monobloc taps. Minutes later, the collar was free. Same problem with the back nut on the waste. Wouldn't budge, preferring to lest the waste rotate in the basin aperture before letting go. Back to the saw .... But even with one flat cut off the plastic nut, it wouldn't let go. I have to rotate it 180' and cut a second portion off the nut before it would let go. The most challenging bit was removing the left overs of the plug chain retaining stud. (Or whatever it's called.) The chain and plug have been missing for at least a year I know of, and as you get these with the waste, the old one had to go. Obviously the tiny nut at the back of the stud had rusted onto the threaded stud. Luckily, the nut just broke off. I tried to rotate and pull, the stud out from the basin side, but that just broke off too. I was left with a hole, filled with the leftovers of a rusted up stud. Took me some time to carefully remove the 'stuck-fast' debris, without damaging the porcelain... The rust had spent years expanding to fill the hole completely and securely. Finally, everything was off. Tap and waste replacement was going to be £21 for parts, but a new trap added £7-40 to the cost. With the new parts I should have completed the job the following day (yesterday), but trawling around plumbers merchants, I seem to have lost one of the tap back-nuts. (Got spares at home as I change the plastic ones for brass.) Job will be finished today, all being well. On a side issue ... For the second time, I tried to use a Basin Mate to effect a centred and water tight fit on the waste. First attempt failed because the threaded portion of the waste wasn't long enough for me to use it. Undeterred, I attempted to use it on this basin. I got it deep into the basin aperture, and locked it into place, dry. It was done up tight, and looked the part. but it leaked. I went back to my tried and tested method. Lots of PTFE tape around the threaded portion just above where the back nut would be, and just below the slot for the overflow. I wrap it so the PTFE forms what you engineers will know as an 'interference fit' on the basin waste hole. The waste is centralised and can't slop around when the back-nut is screwed up. I then add some Plumbers Gold to the underneath of the PTFE collar, and push home a rubber washer into the Plumbers Gold. It makes an effective water seal that WILL harden, though remain slightly flexible. Once the back-nut was tightened and trap re-connected, I did another water test, and this time - no leaks! Maybe the way to use these Basin Mate things, is to either wrap the waste thread in PTFE tape so the BM can grip on a non-texture surface, or the threads on the waste have to be filled with some sort of jointing compound? Given up on them either way. The deciding factor being how difficult they are to get high onto the waste threads. Too much trouble, and not very effective.