At least she isn’t leaking…, originally uploaded by espeedy123.
Is this yucky or what. I am embarrassed to say this exists in my home. It’s the guest bathroom sink, and yes, it’s rusty and gross. This photo reminds me of a visiting China a few years ago and seeing lots of odd unpleasant bathrooms.
This room is on my 2010 to-dos, but in the meantime, the faucet started leaking when my mom visited a few days ago. This leak was pretty major — the cold side was a steady stream. It put me in a really bad mood. I’d just had the plumber here for a different issue, and it was a Sunday, and I just didn’t feel like dealing.
Surprisingly, underneath the sink, only the hot side had a shutoff valve. Not surprisingly, it was raining outside, and I had a tough time finding the key to open up the main water shutoff in the front yard.
Having never fixed a faucet I gave myself 50-50 odds of fixing the problem without a plumber. After consulting the internet, carefully disassembling and visiting Home Depot for parts, I put the thing back together. Lo and behold, no drips! Maybe 2 hours tops. My mom commented later it’s nice to turn a faucet, have the water shut off, and THEN have the faucet turn a hair further so you know it’s all good. I must agree, that is satisfaction.
So for anyone unlucky enough to be searching how to fix a faucet this morning … buck up and do it yourself! I immediately calculated what I saved on the plumber and spent it on a new kitchen machine I will blog about soon.
erin covert * hands on 