plumbing fail

[kirkcudbright]

Replace a bathroom faucet - simple, right? Only if your idea of simple includes bolt cutters and an angle grinder (well, yes?).

The first sign of trouble was needing a wrench to turn the water supply valves - kinda stuck. Kinda stuck because the faucet had leaking off and on for 20 years. The lock nuts that attached the faucet to the sink were badly corroded; after half an hour, several scraped knuckles, two different penetrating oils, and nearly every wrench in the house, I removed the sink with the faucet still attached, and took the angle grinder to the faucet inlet pipes. Drain pipe has seen better decades, so let's cut that out too.



The fail is that, when I finally had the sink cleaned up and the new faucet and drain pipe attached, it turned out that the new faucet inlet pipes are longer than the old ones, and the sink has rigid copper supply lines, which would rather kink than bend. And, being Sunday, not only are the hardware stores long closed, but even WalMart and Home Depot close at 8:00.

I really wanted to have this finished today, sigh. Next project: do the same thing in the upstairs bathroom, then kitchen faucet.

Comments

[c1.livejournal.com]

Wally World in Amherst NH is 24 hours. Right on 101A -- take exit 8 from rte. 3.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

Uh, yeah. That's a solid hour each way. I can wait until morning.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

There used to be a couple of 24-hour Home Depots (on in Boston at South Bay, one on the North Shore, ...). Now they have limited hours (they don't even stay open until Midnight any more)

[imalion.livejournal.com]

I hate when I find a problem in my project that I know I need the hardware store for and I know the store is closed :(

I miss the 24 hr hardware stores.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

The small upside is learning from the experience - I took a look under the sink in the other bathroom, and a) it's just as bad, so I'll plan to pull the sink and fire up the angle grinder, and b) the sink isn't centered over the water lines, so it's going to take one 9" and one 12" (getting the right parts the first time makes everything so much easier :).