Is There a Plumber in The House?
There is one thing I have come to learn about my house...there is no such thing as a quick repair. It would appear that even simple jobs like replacing a faucet always seem to turn into something major with several trips to the hardware store.
This weekend I tried to get a few of the honey-do's done. The list included switching out the basin faucets and drain spout, and replacing the tub and shower fixtures. My wife had found a lovely brushed nickel set and all I had to do was switch them out.
I began with the basin faucets which to my surprise went fairly easy, it was a bit awkward trying to get the old ones disconnected...but other than annoying it went fairly smooth. The ease of the first job, tricked me into forgetting that there are no easy jobs around here. I was all happy and feeling accomplished as I began to tackle the shower fixtures. My ego was quickly deflated once I began trying to remove the old fixtures.
Apparently the last person to work on the plumbing was so confident of his work that everything was sealed behind a fiberglass shower enclosure without access to the plumbing. I'll spare you the details of all the agony and brainstorming I had to go through, let's just say that by the time everything was done I ended up with new plumbing and am now in the process of remodeling the entire bathroom, which isn't a bad thing. While I was finishing up my wife and I were joking she had the spigot in her hand and said, "I want you to build me a bathroom around this" and it looks like I will be doing just that.
On the brighter side we now have a new window in the bathroom (I will have some pics available later)
As I was working on the pipes, it reminded me of something stupid I did as a kid. When I was about eight or nine I had a bad habit of waking up around 1:00 in the morning and going exploring around the house. I also had a bad habit of swinging on the exposed plumbing in the basement. One morning I was swinging on the pipes and the copper pipe bent under my weight and sprung a leak.
I saw the leak and panicked. I tried sticking things on it to patch it, I even tried the soap trick, rubbing a dry bar of soap over the hole in an attempt to clog the hole. Nothing I tried worked. They say that misery loves company, and they are right, not wanting to panic by myself I woke up my brothers and told them what happened. Somehow I managed to convince them to pray that the leak would stop, which I suspect that they half heartedly did because the leak didn't stop in fact it became worse.
Seeing that their prayers were useless I left the infidels and went looking for a different solution. While searching around I found my dad's tools, and among those tools were his propane torch and some flux and solder. I knew exactly what I needed to do, I had seen my dad do it hundreds of times.
I grabbed the torch and the other tools I needed and proceed to repair the pipe. I turned off the water, prepared the pipes lit the torch added the flux and began trying to sweat the solder into the small hole...again I was unsuccessful. I think it might have worked if I had remembered to drain the water out of the pipe first.
Looking back I'm kind of glad it didn't work. If it had, I think I would have ended up doing even more stupid things and trying to cover them up. Eventually my dad heard all of the commotion and came to investigate and I received a physical reminder of why I should not swing from the pipes...although I must admit it wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be...I think he might have actually been impressed with the fact that I almost fixed the leak LOL
Fortunately my plumbing skills are better and my days of wandering around early in the morning have long since passed. :)
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Now playing: Flame, FUTURE & Iz-Real - It’s All Gon’ Pass
via FoxyTunes
This weekend I tried to get a few of the honey-do's done. The list included switching out the basin faucets and drain spout, and replacing the tub and shower fixtures. My wife had found a lovely brushed nickel set and all I had to do was switch them out.
I began with the basin faucets which to my surprise went fairly easy, it was a bit awkward trying to get the old ones disconnected...but other than annoying it went fairly smooth. The ease of the first job, tricked me into forgetting that there are no easy jobs around here. I was all happy and feeling accomplished as I began to tackle the shower fixtures. My ego was quickly deflated once I began trying to remove the old fixtures.
Apparently the last person to work on the plumbing was so confident of his work that everything was sealed behind a fiberglass shower enclosure without access to the plumbing. I'll spare you the details of all the agony and brainstorming I had to go through, let's just say that by the time everything was done I ended up with new plumbing and am now in the process of remodeling the entire bathroom, which isn't a bad thing. While I was finishing up my wife and I were joking she had the spigot in her hand and said, "I want you to build me a bathroom around this" and it looks like I will be doing just that.
On the brighter side we now have a new window in the bathroom (I will have some pics available later)
As I was working on the pipes, it reminded me of something stupid I did as a kid. When I was about eight or nine I had a bad habit of waking up around 1:00 in the morning and going exploring around the house. I also had a bad habit of swinging on the exposed plumbing in the basement. One morning I was swinging on the pipes and the copper pipe bent under my weight and sprung a leak.
I saw the leak and panicked. I tried sticking things on it to patch it, I even tried the soap trick, rubbing a dry bar of soap over the hole in an attempt to clog the hole. Nothing I tried worked. They say that misery loves company, and they are right, not wanting to panic by myself I woke up my brothers and told them what happened. Somehow I managed to convince them to pray that the leak would stop, which I suspect that they half heartedly did because the leak didn't stop in fact it became worse.
Seeing that their prayers were useless I left the infidels and went looking for a different solution. While searching around I found my dad's tools, and among those tools were his propane torch and some flux and solder. I knew exactly what I needed to do, I had seen my dad do it hundreds of times.
I grabbed the torch and the other tools I needed and proceed to repair the pipe. I turned off the water, prepared the pipes lit the torch added the flux and began trying to sweat the solder into the small hole...again I was unsuccessful. I think it might have worked if I had remembered to drain the water out of the pipe first.
Looking back I'm kind of glad it didn't work. If it had, I think I would have ended up doing even more stupid things and trying to cover them up. Eventually my dad heard all of the commotion and came to investigate and I received a physical reminder of why I should not swing from the pipes...although I must admit it wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be...I think he might have actually been impressed with the fact that I almost fixed the leak LOL
Fortunately my plumbing skills are better and my days of wandering around early in the morning have long since passed. :)
----------------
Now playing: Flame, FUTURE & Iz-Real - It’s All Gon’ Pass
via FoxyTunes
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