Wall hung basins buying guide
A wall hung basin, also called a wall mounted basin or wall basin, is fixed directly to the wall with no vanity or pedestal under it. The floor stays clear, the room reads larger, and the height can be set to suit the people who use it. The trade-off is a wall that has to carry the basin and no storage below it. This page holds wall hung basins from Caroma, Clark, Fienza, Turner Hastings, ADP and Studio Bagno, and the guide below covers the advantages and drawbacks, how the wall is prepared, the tap hole and waste lines to read, and the sizes on the listings. Each fact below is attributed to a listing, a stockist guide or an installation guide.
Is a wall hung basin a good choice
It is a good choice when floor space matters more than storage. The stockist guides list the same advantages. It suits small bathrooms and powder rooms, and the open floor makes the room feel more spacious. There is no cabinet, plinth or kickboard, so no floor joins collect hair, dust or water and the floor is quicker to clean. The height is chosen by the household, which helps children's powder rooms, taller users and accessible bathrooms, and one guide notes that wall hung basins are often a good choice for wheelchair users. See assisted living basins for basins made for that purpose.
The disadvantages are as consistent. A wall hung basin has little or no built-in storage, so one guide rates it as a poor fit for a family bathroom where cabinetry does the work. The wall needs support. Installation is more involved than for a basin that sits on a cabinet. And the height is hard to change after the wall is tiled, so it has to be right the first time. If storage is the limit, the guides suggest wall mounted cabinets, open shelving or joinery nearby, and wall hung vanities give a floating look with a cabinet underneath.
Does a wall hung basin need a frame
It needs support in the wall, and there are two ways to give it. The first is a timber noggin or a steel bracket system fitted between the studs while the wall is open at rough-in. The second is an in-wall frame, which manufacturer ranges sell as a frame on its own or as a complete kit with the basin and wall tapware. A stockist guide adds that plasterboard alone should not carry the weight, that heavy ceramic and wide basins need the most attention, and that a retrofit into a finished tiled bathroom can be complicated and sometimes impossible without opening the wall.
Maker installation sheets put the same point in trade terms. Wall hung furniture and basins need fixing to a support beam fitted between the studs, with support noggins added before the wall is sheeted, and the total width of the noggin should exceed the width of the unit. They also say the wall must be plumb and straight, because a bowed wall can twist a cabinet when it is fixed. Each basin here lists its own fixings: the Clark and Teorema listings include a fixing kit, the Fienza Valentina concrete basin includes extra heavy duty mounting brackets and bolts, and the Studio Bagno Apartment basin includes wall fixing bolts. The ADP Eon lists wall fixings as not included, so read the box contents before you order.
Who installs it
A stockist guide describes the job as shared work: a plumber for the waste and the tapware, a builder for the wall reinforcement and possibly a tiler for the finishing around the brackets. Maker sheets also say all plumbing components must be installed by a licensed plumber, and that the plumbing positions should be checked against the product before it is fixed. Plan the rough-in with the plumber so the waste and the water supply land where the basin needs them.
Mounting height
The height is set on site. A stockist installation guide gives about 850mm from the finished floor to the top edge of the basin as a common figure, adjusted for comfort, and tradespeople work within about 800mm to 900mm for a wall hung basin. For a child, a seated user or a taller household, set the height to the person and mark a level line before you drill. Check the tap hole and the waste position before you drill, and leave about 700mm to 750mm clear in front so the basin is comfortable to stand at.
Tap holes and tapware
The listings show three arrangements. A basin with a tap landing and one tap hole takes a basin mixer on the bowl, which is how most of the Caroma hand basins here are listed. A hole-free basin takes a wall mixer, and a stockist guide lists the two layouts side by side: a tap landing for an above-basin mixer, or no hole for a wall mixer. Some basins, such as the Turner Hastings Claremont, come with one or three tap holes, the Studio Bagno Apartment with none, one or three, and the ADP Eon has a right-hand tap hole only. Read the tap hole line, then choose basin mixers or bathroom basin taps to suit it.
Waste and overflow
Wall hung basins are listed with and without an overflow, and the waste has to match. The Caroma listings include a white plug and a chrome flush fitting waste, and several are listed as non-overflow only. The ADP Eon is a reversible solid surface basin with an overflow and needs a 32mm waste with overflow. The Fienza Valentina concrete basin has no overflow and needs a 32mm non-overflow waste, which is not included. The Turner Hastings Claremont takes a 32mm waste with overflow, sold separately. The ADP Teorema sells the tapware, the bottle trap and the plug and waste separately. The Clark and Caroma listings suggest adding a bottle trap, which shows below a wall hung basin, so it is worth choosing one to suit the tapware. See basin wastes for the matching fittings.
Sizes on the listings
Wall hung basins range from compact hand basins to long basins with a shelf. The ADP Halo is 450mm wide, 160mm deep and 100mm high, with a 160mm projection and a contour designed to clear swinging doors in a tight room. The ADP Eon is 450mm wide, 150mm deep and 100mm high, with a 150mm projection and a weight of 4.5kg. The Caroma Luna hand basin is 450mm long with a 3 litre bowl, the Urbane II hand basin is 460mm long with a 5.9 litre bowl and the Liano II hand basin is 530mm by 280mm. The Caroma Tribute rectangle basin is 600mm with a shelf, left or right hand, and the ADP Teorema comes in lengths from 600mm to 1400mm with offset, centre and double bowl layouts. For the smallest sizes, see small hand basins.
Materials, shapes and finish
Most wall hung basins here are ceramic or fine fire clay, with some in concrete and solid surface. The Turner Hastings Claremont is double glazed fine fireclay, and some Claremont listings include a matching pedestal, and the Fienza Valentina fluted arch basin is concrete finished with a food-grade nano sealant. For a look beyond white, concrete basins, black basins and traditional basins have wall hung models, and a stockist guide notes gloss white is the classic finish while matte green, pink, clay and speckled tones work as a feature. Shapes run rectangular, oval, square and arch.
Wall types and what each needs
A UK installation guide sorts walls by how they carry a wall hung basin, and the sorting is useful even though the guide is not Australian. Solid brick suits masonry fixings with no extra reinforcement. Concrete block suits fixings that reach dense sections. A stud wall needs timber noggins or a metal frame to spread the load across the studs. A metal basin support frame anchors to the floor and the wall, so it allows a non-load-bearing wall. Plasterboard on its own does not support a wall hung basin without reinforcement, and a tiled wall is suitable only if the substrate beneath it meets the load. The guide adds that insulation and void fillers must be kept out of the fixing zones.
A second UK guide gives fixing sizes for heavy basins, and its figures are for other brands. It says brackets should have a load-bearing capacity of at least twice the weight of the basin. It says solid walls take metal expansion bolts of 10mm or more in diameter and 80mm or more in length, and that lightweight walls need hollow wall anchors or 2cm thick solid wood plates covering the installation area. It says a stone resin basin should use at least four fixing points. Those numbers show what a heavy basin asks of a wall, and the fixing kit that comes with your basin is the source for your basin.
How much a wall hung basin weighs
The same guide gives weights for its own range: a heavy stone resin basin up to 30kg that takes two or three people to move, other stone models of 18.5kg and 24.8kg, and ceramic models from 4.5kg to 16kg. The weights on this page sit at the lighter end. The ADP Eon is listed at 4.5kg, and the Fienza Valentina concrete basin has a sheet weight of 12kg and a capacity of 10.5 litres, which puts about 22kg on its brackets when full. The guide's advice about a rating of twice the weight would call for brackets rated to carry about 45kg for the Valentina. No rated load is published for the fixing kits on this page, so ask the supplier and the installer.
Fixing a Caroma wall basin with the D.200 kit
Caroma installation sheets for its wall basins give a full sequence for the D.200 fixing kit, and the sheets for the Urbane II 500mm wall basin, the Opal basins and the Tribute shelf basins follow the same pattern. Reinforcement must be provided behind the finished wall for the basin fixing, and in a timber stud wall the noggins and studs must be positioned at a height that suits the fasteners.
- Mark the fixing screw hole positions on the finished wall at the recommended height on the drawing. The sheets show a recommended 865mm above the finished floor and about 805 to 815mm between fixing centres for the basins covered.
- Drill two 12mm holes in a masonry wall for expansion fasteners, or two 8mm holes for fixing screws in a timber stud wall.
- Screw the fixing screws in using the flat section with a spanner, and allow about 48 to 50mm of thread to protrude from the finished wall.
- Locate the basin on the fixing screws, insert the plastic bushes and washers and fasten with the nuts.
- Rotate the hexagonal head of the plastic bush to level the basin, because that raises or lowers it slightly.
- Fit the taps and waste, tighten the nuts and connect the plumbing.
The sheets say the installation must be by a qualified plumber, in accordance with AS/NZS 3500.2, and that all measurements are subject to manufacturing tolerances, so check the actual product dimensions before drilling. The trap options on the drawings are a 40mm Caroma plastic short P-trap or a bottle trap, neither supplied with the basin. A Roca sheet for a wall basin of another brand gives a similar sequence with its own bolts. It adds that all measurements are taken from the finished wall and floor, and that if the basin is installed at a different height to the one recommended, all other measurements must be adjusted accordingly.
Testing the installation and the common mistakes
The UK installation guide lists tests that apply to any wall hung basin. Recheck the level with a spirit level, check the tap works, and run a water leak test by filling and emptying the basin while you watch the joints. Test the waste and the trap by filling the basin and releasing it, and check the trap seal. Inspect the sealant for gaps or lifting edges. The guide also describes applying a controlled pressure to the rim to check the fixing holds, without giving a force value, so use judgement and stop if anything moves.
The same guide lists the common mistakes. Insufficient wall reinforcement is the first, especially with plasterboard-only or unreinforced stud walls. Others are heights outside the 800 to 850mm range, misaligned fixing points that stress the ceramic, over-tightening fixings, which can fracture ceramic around the holes, poor plumbing alignment that forces the joints, and inadequate or broken silicone sealing. It says to hire a professional for stud or non-load-bearing walls, concealed pipework, heavy or large basins, new builds and full renovations, and where compliance or the maker's cover requires it. That list matches the Caroma sheets, which require a qualified plumber.
Heights: what other sources say
Two UK guides give a standard rim height of 800 to 850mm, measured from the final floor finish and not the subfloor, and one gives 720 to 740mm for a disabled user, citing a UK document. That second figure is not an Australian standard, and the Australian accessible guides give a rim height of 800 to 830mm. The Caroma drawings give a recommended 865mm, which is higher than those rim figures, because the drawing height is a fixing height and the rim height depends on the basin. Set the height from the person who uses the basin, and check the figure against the basin's own drawing before the wall is drilled. See assisted living basins for the accessible case.
Fixing and finishing
A stockist installation guide lists the steps that apply to a ceramic basin: tighten the fixings gradually and evenly on each side without overtightening. Use the rubber or plastic washers supplied and put masking tape over each drill point on a tiled wall. Seal the waste flange with a little silicone or plumber's putty, and run a bead of sanitary silicone along the back edge where the basin meets the wall. Manufacturer installation guides add that a ceramic basin's waste is tightened by hand only. Run the water, check every joint for leaks and confirm the basin does not rock. For care, use mild cleaners and a soft cloth, avoid abrasive products that dull the glaze, and check the silicone and fixings from time to time.
How to choose
- Decide whether the room can give up storage. If it cannot, consider a semi-recessed basin on a shallow vanity or an above counter basin.
- Confirm the wall can be supported, with noggins or brackets at rough-in or an in-wall frame, before you pick a size.
- Choose the tap arrangement first: one tap hole for a basin mixer, none for a wall mixer.
- Read the overflow, waste and fixings lines on the listing, because they differ between basins.
- Match the length and projection to the room, including the door swing.
Browse by brand at Caroma basins, Clark basins, Fienza basins, Turner Hastings basins, ADP basins and Studio Bagno basins. The bathroom basins page sets wall hung basins beside the other types.
