Are you supposed to wait for plumbers putty to dry or cure? IF so how long?



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If you wait for it to dry, you'll be waiting maybe 10/15 years. It doesn't "dry", but it will "dry out". You can use the fixture immediately after installation with putty.



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The thing with plumbers putty is many people use way too much and then cannot get the drain tightened enough. Plumbers putty should be put on the upper drain flange in the right amount to seal between the flange and the sink with only a small amount oozing out as you tighten the drain. Stainless steel kitchen sinks use very little and a cast iron sink would use considerably more.

If your basket strainer assemby flange is sitting 1/8" above the sink and you cannot tighten it any more because you used too much putty you will have to pull it apart and redo it after cleaning off the excess. The putty will never dry and when used that thick will leak!

If you are installing a kitchen sink basket strainer assy. I would recommend using a double cup basket strainer. In my experience the other type with the large dia. nut is seldom installed correctly and I see many of them leaking. The large dia. nut has too much surface area which makes it difficult to tighten due to friction. Also the nut goes on in close proximity to the area sealed with putty and if it gets into the threads it will not tighten enough. The double cup type is much more forgiving as it tightens with a smaller nut with less surface area and friction. The nut is also well away from where putty is used so contamination of the threads is not an issue.

double cup basket strainer


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If you did you would be waiting years,