Have I Mentioned How Much I Love Plumbing?

Vaughn McMillan

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Woke up this morning to discover that the kitchen faucet was not only hammering, it was jackhammering. Turn on the water, and it came out in pulses to the accompaniment of "bang-bang-bang-bang-bang". This is not good. So a bit of research convinces me it's time to install a new kitchen faucet. This shouldn't be too bad, I've done quite a few over the years.

So me and the missus head out to the home improvement stores. We hit Home Depot and Lowes and decided on a nice-looking Delta. Better be nice-looking for $260, fer crying out loud. :rolleyes: We have a large, deep twin basin sink, and the faucet mounting holes are offset to the right side, which limited our choices, since not all faucets would reach the left-hand sink. Also, all of the kitchen hardware has a brown "oiled bronze" finish, so that further narrowed down our options. Anyway, we found one that would work (and that we liked) so we bought it.

Now it was time to get everything installed. I'm thinking this can't be too hard, since I installed the one that was being replaced a few years ago. But I was wrong.

First, I had to remove the old faucet. But I couldn't do that until I removed the garbage disposal just to have room to get to the faucet fittings under the sink. Then after much crawling around on my back, I got the old faucet and sprayer removed. After even more crawling around on my back, I finally managed to get the new faucet in place, but not connected to the valves, because they didn't fit the supply lines on the new faucet. This of course leads to the inevitable return trip to the hardware store. Also, since the old valves didn't fully shut off the water, I figured it'd be good to replace them with some new 1/4 turn ball valves. Actually, instead of replacing them, I tried to just attach the new valves to the outlets of the old valves, since the old valves were stuck on pretty tight. But in order to get to the valves, I had to remove most of the drain lines. After that was done, I attached the new valves onto the old valves. Dangit! They leaked. So I manned up (got a bigger wrench), removed the old valves and got the new ones installed leak-free. Then I put all the drain lines back in. Unfortunately, the seal that goes between the sink strainer and the first piece of PVC drain line had gone missing. I went ahead and continued putting things back together in hopes that I wouldn't have any problems with that piece missing. Then I had to reinstall the garbage disposal, but had to take a break first because my knees, back, and temper were killing me. At this point in time I'd been beating on this project for about 3 hours...something I should have been able to finish in 30 minutes. I ended up using a car jack to raise the disposal into position while I spun the locking collar tight. Got everything buttoned up, turned on the water and voila! I had a leak in the drain lines. I guess that missing seal was more critical than I initially thought. :doh: So one more trip to Lowes (it was almost closing time for them by now) to buy a little $1.59 part. Got home and got the drain line buttoned up fairly painlessly. But then I notice a very slow leak (more of a seep) from the new valve on the hot water supply line. Got the wrenches out and was able to tighten it a bit more. Hopefully, it's finally done and I can forget about it. :rolleyes:

And for proof, here's a (lack of) progress photo. This was right before I jacked the disposal into place...

New%20Kitchen%20Faucet%20800.jpg



Have I mentioned how much I love plumbing? :rolleyes: Seems like every time I do it, two things happen: 1) I have to make at least one extra trip to the hardware store for parts, and 2) I invent several new ways to use a wide variety of "colorful" words. :bang:
 
Compared to the one I did in one of the rental units here, that was a really big job!:eek:

I like the way our faucets go on from above the counter and no garbage disposal units, I've never understood why they are so popular in the US, they seem to be a lot of trouble over the years, we just toss our garbage in the....... garbage.... :rolleyes:

BTW, you have a LOT of stuff under your sink!
 
also vaughn you new faucet could have been hooked up tot he supply lines with shark fittings possibly which are a breeze to use.. but the under sink on your back twist position will make even a preacher use foul language:)
 
I just had to replace ours a week ago. Must be something going around. I don't know how you lucked out, everytime I go to the local stores for that one little part, they don't have it. Mine has a center piece between the doors which makes working under there a real pain. I've thought of cutting it out and then putting it back in so I could remove it when needed. I just don't know of anyway to cut it and still make a good fit when putting it back in. All that "stuff" you have under the sink is nothing compared to the amount of "stuff" my wife keeps under there. It is ridiculous! And as for a disposal, my wife once one, no way, I don't mind carrying the garbage out.
 
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Amen, Larry, and I hate plumbing even more than Vaughn does. I never get away with only one more trip to the store. Three is my minimum record and that was after buying a boatload of 'extra', just in case' stuff. The trip to return the extras is not counted in the three minimum trips to 'get' stuff. When I add in a dollar value for the frustration factor, not to mention the 'kill my back' factor, a plumber is far cheaper! And I lived near a Navy town for 25 years. I know a few words. :rofl:
 
Plumbing, the only part of my kitchen remodel I did not do myself (well havc also as I don't do that either). Our original sink had a lot below like that.....not now:p. Also my sink has offset holes like yours, I used separate faucet and controls so I could put the faucet in the left hole giving much better access to the left side:)
 
Glad everything turned out well, but it looks like at least 2 hours could have been saved if you didn't have to deal with removing/returning all those "needed" items from under the sink. :rofl:
 
Anytime I do any plumbing I plan on at least three trips to the store. Plumbing is my number one most hated activity second is drywall third is painting
 
Glad to see I'm not the only person in this boat. :thumb:

Just a minor clarification for those who mentioned it: I have very little under my sink. My wife, on the other hand, had boatload of stuff under her sink. ;)
 
See that's what I'm talking about - those are absolutely the most deceptively simple yet painful things to install.

The first time I ever installed one I was about 16 years old and helping my dad install a new one. ('Helping" involved simply handing him tools.) He struggled for 10 minutes or so to get the disposal up and locked into place, and was not having any success. He was so exasperated that he had to take a break, so I decided to give it a shot. By some stroke of sheer luck, I got it on my first try. He didn't know whether to be relieved or even more exasperated. :rofl:

These days, with my funky back and all, I don't think I'm physically capable of putting one in without mechanical assistance. ;)
 
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