Not knowing what was clogging the sink in the first floor bathroom, I ended up taking the entire drain apart to get at it. It's a common pop-up drain. Note the missing chrome ring in the sink and stopper handle above the faucet.
 |
| The sink with its stopper and drain parts removed |
What I found inside the pipe looked like a small rat (sorry, no picture). It was really a clump of hair mixed with the black crud I tend to find in plumbing fixtures. Here are all the parts after I cleaned them.
 |
| The drain trap, stopper parts, and drain pipe |
After what seemed like days of trying different things, I got them all back together under the sink and there are no leaks!
 |
| The stopper lever parts behind the pedestal |
 |
| The sink with all its drain and stopper restored |
I had to get some plumber's putty and joint compound before putting everything back together. The putty is under the chrome ring helping to keep the water in the sink when the stopper is closed. The joint compound is sealing the drain pipe gasket to the under-side of the sink.
I realized too late that it wasn't necessary to uninstall the drain pipe. If I had just removed the stopper and its lever, I could have snaked out the pipe from above. Lesson learned...
This link was helpful for making sure I didn't forget anything when putting the drain together again:
http://plumbing.about.com/od/fixtures/ss/Bathroom-Pop-Up-Drain-Installation.htm
