The first “major” project always has an opportunity to be problematic. When you’re learning as you go, there’s bound to be a lot of unforeseen issues that pop up. I try to do a little research on the interweb. (We haven’t yet setup the modem or purchased a wireless router, so this posting has been brought to you by “Ray Secure” and “Linksys”. Big shoutout to the neighbors who are unknowingly providing us with internet service.)So, the shower and I had DTR (Define the Relationship talk) after I over cranked the faucet knob on our first morning in the new house. I’ve gone to counseling for my abusive tendencies and I’m trying to repair the damages. It looks like a leaky showerhead from a bad compression valve in the hot water faucet. I can handle this.
Saturday morning, I turned off the water and took apart all four faucets to get a better look at their respective parts. I’m not sure what I have to replace, but I head to the Home Despot with all the parts in the front pocket of my hoodie, jangling around in there making an unnecessary racket.
The dude at Home Despot who I find in the plumbing aisle says,
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, sure, that’d be great. I need to talk over the parts I need to fix this compression valve. It might take a minute, cause I’ve never done any plumbing before.”
“Well, I’m about to head out to lunch.”
“At 10 AM, really? Ok, well, then I won’t hold you up. Is there someone else who’s going to be able to give me a minute?”
“Nope. There’s nobody else.”
“So… you’re the only person who knows anything about plumbing and when you leave, there’s no one else on the floor?”
“Yep. So you better start talking cause I need a pizza steak.”
“Right, ok. Well, here’s the part I pulled out of the faucet, and I’m not sure what needs to be replaced, if anything.”
“We don’t have that part.”
“Well, I understand that this is an older faucet. So maybe I’d replace the whole assembly if the price is right.”
“We don’t have that part.”
“Okay, well, I also thought maybe I could try getting a valve seat prep tool to clean that up and it might help the problem.”
“Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t have that part. I need a pizza steak. Later.”
This is why I hate the Home Despot. So, on a whim, I went to Glenside Hardware. The awesome dude there answers all my questions and sends me home with some plumbers grease, new valve-washers, and new faucet handles. Local Hardware Store: 1, The Home Despot: 0.
So finally, at 1 PM I was ready to begin fixing the valves. I climbed into the bathtub. I cleaned out all the valve seats and disassembled each compression valve from top to bottom. Like most little pieces of machinery, they’re actually quite beautiful once you understand and really see them. So, I snapped a couple “artsy” shots shown here, then slathered them with plumber’s grease and reassembled the whole thing.
The new faucets went on and we turned on the water…
SUCCESS-BOIL-IN-A-BAG-RICE! There's No Drip!
And to top things off, we found a good use for the old faucet handles. They look very DIY/Quirk on our bathroom door as towel hooks. Two Hots and a Cold. (My wife really should hang her towel on the HOT label, but given that she’s always chilly, we decided it would make sense for her to be on COLD.)
