Renting to students: Sink grid drains?

Question

I'm re-staining and painting the cabinets in my student rental and switching out the sink counter (23-year-old white formica with curling iron burns and steel sinks with lots of repaired chips and discoloration) for Swanstone.  All of the sinks currently have broken or missing stopper mechanisms.  Should I put in new grid sink drains (which have no stoppers) when I replace the faucets?  I figure if they are desperate to stopper the sink, they can buy their own flat sink stopper, but otherwise, I have reduced possible failure points by one by making it less likely for hair and miscellaneous things to go down the sink.  How well do these work on hair, BTW?

Genny Li · Answer

My other choice would be the DrainBuddy, which is a pop-up:  https://www.homedepot.com/p/DR...

That would still allow for plugging the sink when wanted.  The kids are unlikely to take off with them, too.

I swear by Zip-Its for hair to avoid having to take anything apart, myself. lol.  If the grid drains aren't foolproof for hair, then the DrainBuddies will be less of a fuss when we flip tenants, since most tenants will stay only 1-2 years.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

DrainBuddy looks similar to the the new plugs I get with my faucets, but it is an aftermarket install. The drain zips work well, but I am not sure they would fit in a slotted sink grid. My shower has a drain grid and you wouldn't believe the clump of hair I removed from it. I am talking a solid clump the size of a cup of coffee. Hair is workable with zips or cleaning traps, it is the bigger things that can cause serious damage.

Thanks for the link to the DrainBuddy. I am going to pick up the shower version for my short term rental...

Joe Splitrock · Answer

I have put this in a couple properties and no complaints. They do not stop all the hair, but prevent issues with things like toothpaste caps. Removing the sink trap to clean out hair is no big deal. Getting rid of stoppers is helpful because they generally just break. That being said on the last couple properties I got faucets with pop up stoppers. You push them down to close and open. No more pull rod at the faucet. They work great too.

Genny Li · Answer

My own hair is long enough to sit on, and my daughter's is longer still, so I've had experience with hair-drain issues.  lol!