Never make home repairs on a Sunday
In over 60 trips around the sun I’ve learned wisdom. Unfortunately, what I learn, the brain memory didn’t always take.
Most followers of this blog know I’m not the most mechanically apt. I’m not ashamed to admit that. A good part of my restoration is hired. I refer to my article How not to repair a selinoid in the archives as proof.
The water, in my home village is extremely hard. My kitchen fawcett has taken the abuse of 10 years and decided on breaking. As added inconvience, the fawcett gave up on Sunday, the final day of an extended Christmas weekend. I had three days previously that would have been prime oppurtunity for the repair.
Its not a good start to the day when you shut off the fawcett and the handle comes off in your hand. That part really wasn’t that bothersome though, I was ready for a change and I had replaced that fawcett ten years ago when I first moved in. I wasn’t necessarlly excited, but it wasn’t a daunting task either. I was mostly looking forward to the trip to Home Depot. I like Home Depot.
I won”t go into a detailed explaination, comedian Jeff Foxworthy has thorouhly covered the subject. Men like to shop, they just like to buy different things. I’ll call out any tractor collector that says they don’t like to shop. If they don’t, they should stop looking at Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, and any other auction lusting, not sure I mispelled that. Its a lusting more than a listing.
I had a task list for that Sunday. If I had been smart, I’d have arranged my list differently. Obviosly, I didn’t. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be sharing this story.
I had a little tractor work planned for the morning. Sure, that could have been put off, but I didn’t We all have our priorities.
I was changing back tires on a Cub Cadet 102. That should be quick and painless. It went well, but not exactly painless. My help lowered the jack to quickly and I had a finger in the wrong place.
If only I had a sign of things to come….
Maybe I did. Actually was the fawcett handle a sign?
Following is the events in approximate chronological order
Sunday, 2;30 pm – I depart for Home Depot to purchase the new kitchen fawcett. Please note I earlier proclaimed my fondness of the store. You will also notice in the timeline I patronized the outlet for an extended time frame. I’m easily distracted!
Sunday, 4;45 pm – Repair commence. Rule of thumb, what takes a normal person twenty minutes, will take me three times longer at a bare minimum. I did take that into account, and still figured I’d be fine. I’ve replaced fawcetts many times, and this was the second one in this kitchen. I got this.
Needless to say it didn’t take long before I was stymeid. Most sinks have isolation valves under them. This one did. The hot water inlet had a nice metal one that worked correctly. The cold water had a funky plastic thing that didn’t stop water any better than a screen door on a submarine. Water flow wasn’t going to stop me. I’ll just shut off the main line and stop water flow to the WHOLE house. That being done, I’m back under the sink.
The old sink had a male connection to a female water line. Of course, the new sink was opposite. Did I pick up any spare parts just in case? No. Did I even think I needed to? Again, no. Normally, this is the point when I discover I need to make a second trip for parts. Again my minimum trips would be three. I looked closer though and realized I just needed a new plan of attack.
The new fawcett came with extra long hose. It could be attached directly at the inlet isolation valve. I was golden on the hot water side. Remember the funky plastic contraption? Now here lies the problem. My first attempt was unscrewing the plastic from the copper line. Nope! Not threaded, I probably caused it to leak. I’ll call it a valve, to sound professional. Goofy plastic thingy may have been more appropriate. It got called something more choice, but this blog article will remain PG rated. The thing made a 90 degree and it looked like it may have been threaded. Turns out what I thought was threaded was nothing more than a swivel so the flexible hose could turn.
Great! Now I do need parts. It also climbed above my expertise. I didn’t know how to sweat copper, even if I did know the correct terminology.. I could “phone a friend”, but a Sunday night? Not this time. I wasn’t that far into the job, actually only needing to reconnect one connection. I’d deal with the broken handle a little longer while I evaluated and purchased parts.
Can you guess what I discovered when I turned on the main line? If your guess was a leak, you would be absolutely correct! It was the plastic valve, at the swivel. It wasn’t gushing, or dripping more like oozing. I couldn’t get a catch pan under it either. My solution was a towel wrap to dam up the water a little.
My “guy card” is pretty much always in jeopardy anyway. In fact, I’m surprised I still retain one. I’m not ashamed to admit I was ready to call in the professionals.
Sunday 6;15 pm – After looking online I contacted a plumber. I was impressed they came 24 / 7 weekends and holidays. I was skeptical I wanted to pay for a Sunday night, however. During the communication ,with the technician, I did discover the repair to be twice as expensive on a Sunday night. I also learned that the cussed plastic valve was compressed on. Gee what has modern plumbing come to?
I figured I could still find parts and do it myself. I also knew it would take me several trips to the store before I got it done right. I still had a plumber scheduled for the next day. Hopefully in the afternoon, that way I could work part of the day. and be a little productive. Let the professional handle it and it will be right.
Monday 4;00 am – I went to the kitchen for my usual morning routine and discovered the towel dam had burst. It wasn’t like the leak would get better. There was water on my kitchen floor, This would be the first of four times I mopped, so the floor is real clean now.
I made the executive decision to stay home and wait for the plumber, monitoring the leak and cleaning up the continued aftermath. Unfortunately, I wasn’t first on the schedule. I had hoped they could be in and out and I would just go to work late. Spoiler, I took the day off. It wasn’t a total loss. I still had personal time to use for 2025.
Monday 11:15 am – Here comes the cavalry ! The plumbing tech came with his apprentice in tow. After a quick assessment, he gave me a quote for repairs. I let them do the install, since they were there. The parts were on the truck, unlike my needing to make several trips to get the wrong ones. I found an out of the way spot to spectate, and they were both friendly so it wasn’t terribly awkward.
The plastic obstacle was overcome exactly as I figured it should be handled. The tech was a little neater than I would have though. He cut the copper pipe with the correct tool. I wanted to use my power saw. His method was far cleaner and straighter. It made me feel better, the pro struggled with the new fixture, a little. It took him about 25 minutes in and out. That was fine. He charged flat rate, and by this point he was worth every penny.
So in the end I paid three times more than I had done it myself. Then again maybe not. I would have to factor in mileage and the price of gas in my quote. I went back to Home Depot on another repair later that Monday. I did find the compression fitting to do the repair, but there were several choices. Leave it to me, I would have picked up the wrong part the first two times.
During the verbal telling of this tale, two wiser friends had advised me to buy ALL the parts I think I’d need. There is no shame in making returns. It would also be a great excuse to go to the store. Live and learn.
Editors note : I’d like to think I’m not “that ” bumbling and incompetent I really don’t have that low of self esteem. I’m only hard on myself as satirical reference . Everybody has their own limitations I just happen to enjoy making fun of mine..
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