Improper P trap

This week it seemed like every bathroom vanity cabinet door I opened had an improper P trap. There were two accordions, missing washers, and loose slip joint nuts.

One of the accordion pipes I replaced was in a newly purchased home. I asked the homeowner if there was a mention of the trap in the home inspection - there was not. Generally home inspectors will point this out in their reports because accordions are not up to code. Folks generally install these out of frustration when the drain pipe in their wall does not allow the dirty arm of a P trap to easily pivot into the sanitary tee (generally appearing only as a drain pipe to the untrained eye).

The solution I have been using for an inconveniently placed drain pipe is to attach a mission band/fernco/metal jacket to the threaded galvanized steel coming out of the wall onto a street 45 ABS fitting. This reorients the drain pipe to give the P trap more flexibility and room to work with.