Leaderboard

That looks the business. i am more of a classicist myself - old-style touring bicycles with drop bars, quill stems, horizontal top tube, Brooks leather saddle, quill pedals with toe clips, friction shifters (either bar end, or on the down-tube) I am not an off-road cyclist, purely a road guy...

That's why he's on this way to his second million...

I think it very unlikely that any PM was used in mounting the taps or waste, Freddy. It is an effective sealant but I have never known it to go hard; the whole point of PM is that it is a non-setting mastic. I strongly suspect that it was ordinary glazier's putty that was used to fill the excess space around the taps - an old-fashioned and traditional but pretty effective process. Putty looks much like PM (er - 'putty coloured') but does set hard of course. If old putty is set hard and mechanical removal might damage porcelain or taps etc, it can usually be softened by using paint stripper. (That is a handy dodge too when trying to remove old putty from delicate areas of a window frame.) Did you hear what happened to the randy DIY fan who didn't know the difference between putty and KY Jelly? Yes - you've guessed - all his window panes fell out! I've never used a Basin Mate so will reserve an opinion. I usually set wastes in silicone to get an effective seal to porcelain. I don't think you would get very far trying to get PM (or anything else) to adhere to PTFE tape - it is after all a 'non-stick' product (except of course when the frying pan has been used more than once).