The hot water tap in the master bathroom would sometimes not turn off completely, like it did (or...didn't do???) Tuesday morning.
After trying for 5 minutes to get it to stop running I attempted to turn the water off beneath the sink. I say "attempted" because not only did that not work but turning the tap beneath beneath the sink resulted in it starting to drip. I turned it back and I thought this new leak stopped dripping, although the water from the top faucet continued to run(dribble, really) so still not having had breakfast and now looking like being late for work I closed the bathroom door (so the running water wouldn't disturb Liz) and finished getting ready.
Midway through the morning I got a call from Liz. A rather frantic call. Apparently there was water coming out from beneath the master bathroom sink. It would appear that the leak from beneath the sink had not stopped when I'd turned the tap back on. Oops. I could tell she had me on Speaker and figured she was heading outside to turn the water off at the Main and sure enough, after giving her instructions on what to do, I heard the explosion of water gushing from the tap immediately above the Main, followed by Liz freaking out that there was all this water!
"Quite normal," I reassured her, "that's just the water draining from the pipes in the house. It will stop shortly," and it did. "I'll be home within an hour," I added, and I was.
And that's when I discovered that the shorter two hoses I still had - left over from my previous plumbing repair jobs - had a 3/4" fitting on one end and a 7/16" fitting on the other,. And the one remaining faucet I had in my work cupboard? It had a 7/16" fitting, too! I actually had the parts I needed to fix the leak without going to Home Depot! Amazing!
*Note* I needed two faucets to finish the Sink installation, and that hose with the 7/16" fitting was too short for that job anyway, but for an under-the-bathroom-sink repair it was just right.
After a generous bead of Plumber's Putty was applied to the flange on the copper pipe, and strips of Teflon tape had been wrapped around every thread, I had everything back together and it was time to test my handiwork. After opening the bedroom window so Liz and I could communicate without yelling (too loudly) I crawled under the sink and sent Liz outside to turn on the water Main.
I heard the water entering the pipes a second before Liz called out that she'd turned it on. No leak. Excellent. But, just to be on the safe side, I decided to stay under the sink for a few minutes. And it's a good thing I did. After a minute or two I caught the movement of a drop of water falling down.
"Where did you come from?" I asked the now, non-existent drip.
A minute or two later I identified its source, but Being Prepared (like a good Boy Scout), and suspecting that this particular joint was the weaker joint (Goodbye!) I also had the correct sized spanner handy and I tightened the nut a tad. Then I waited.
Drip.
Tighten.
Wait.
Wait.
Drip.
Tighten.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Waaaaaait.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait.
You know, I can probably come out now.
But just to be on the safe side I slipped a plastic container under the hoses, which checked an hour or so later. But there was no water in the tub, not even a splash mark or two.
Excellent.
When I was growing up my Dad used to do all sorts of repairs around the house like this, and regardless of what I was doing at the time Dad always made sure I was there helping him, whether I wanted to or not.
Thank you, Dad.
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5 comments:
isn't this why you have a landlord? to fix these things?
Normally, yeah, but Liz is not overly impressed with our Landlord's Handyman (apparently he's the Landlord's cousin or something). The Property Manager is also not too impressed with him, either.
Before we moved in we reported that most of the power outlets in the upstairs bedrooms had been painted over, so you couldn't plug anything into them. The Property Manager arrived with the Handyman, and apparently he was the one who painted the house before we moved in. According to Liz he tried to tell the Property Manager, "That happens when they're old."
It also took a couple of days for him to get out to see us so we figure if I can take care of the problem now that's better than waiting a couple of days for the smelly handyman to come by. Did I mention he apparently reeked of cigarette smoke?
You know that is one thing I have taught both my kids. Is how to be self suffient and to do home repairs. Sadly my sportsman was not raised that way. His parents only goal for him was to play hard in all the sports he was in.
He has learned more from me, than his own father. WHich can be very frustrating to him, to have his "Wife" show him how to do something MANLY.
Oh well. eventually he will need to get over it.
It really helps that you have a working knowledge on how to do quick fixes for such problems. It would come in handy as an immediate response before the professionals get a hold of it. BTW, you could always leave a few sheets of newspaper under the sink, so that you will have an idea where the leaks are located. Beats having to check the whole thing inch by inch. Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Laverne Knight @ Midland Mechanical, Inc.
The perks of having a pretty handy dad! All those years of watching and helping him work on these stuff definitely paid off. You probably saved up a lot of money on the plumbing department by being capable repairing it yourself. Cheers!
Lovella Cushman @ Perfection Plumbing
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