The Great Faucet Catastrophe!

Hi there friends!  Today I have something a little different.  Instead of a card or box I have my first foray into plumbing.  Something that was suppose to be pretty easy but instead turned out to be CRAZY!  I knew there was a reason to call people for these types of things.

It started because the faucet looked like this.  Yes, it is 1990's brass.  It's hideous.  This is the children's bathroom where I am positive they care nothing about how the faucet looks.  They also care nothing about hanging towels and picking up their clothes.  One day after picking up their towels again (they were not home to be summoned to pick up their own towels) I decided to forgo the (completely beat up hideous brass) towel racks and purchase some new hooks.  Down at the store I realized that brass is so "out" they don't even sell it anymore!  So I purchased brushed nickel hooks.  I installed them and they looked great except the brass now stood out ten times more!  So I thought, "Self, you should just replace that faucet".  Self and I looked it up on Google where we were assured it would be an easy task.   I can't tell you how many websites, youtube videos, and facebook friends told me it would be a piece of cake.  I should have known better, after all I am the queen of the glass is half empty.

So it was off to the Home Depot where I purchased a new brushed nickel faucet and toilet paper holder.  Next I went home and made sure I had all the necessary tools that Google recommended.  I cleaned out from under the sink and contemplated on how exactly I was going to wedge my body in there.

 Above is the tiny hole into which I had to squeeze my entire upper body.  I am fairly certain having smaller boobs would have helped immensely here.  Once you have your body in there you block all the light and then you need a lantern.

Above is the original brass toilet paper holder that came with the house when it was built back in 1990.  Charming, no?  Notice how the center is silver.  My husband bought a replacement a few years back and decided it was just easier to add the middle part then replace the whole thing.

I began with the demolition of the old faucet.  I carefully followed Google and You Tubes instructions for the dismantle.  Everything was going swimmingly until I had unbolted every part and the faucet still would not lift out.   Apparently you need to pull kind of hard.   After discovering this tidbit the sink look liked this:

 Everything is out.  No more faucet and no more drain.   Getting the drain out was harder then the faucet and I had to draft my 11 year old daughter to help me out.  She is a princess and did not wish to dirty her hands.   To get the drain out you need to remove the trap- the u shaped pipe under the sink- when you do that dirty water will come pouring out.  Hopefully you put a bowl under there.  I did!  But it also got all over my hands and it was sooo gross and smelly.

This is the bag of disgusting faucet parts.  I was using it for trash.  Everything that went in was so grimy and gross.  But at this point I was really happy.  I felt like putting in a faucet was easy and I was contemplating doing even more faucets!  I should have known...

The next step is installing the new stuff.   I got in the new drain and the new faucet fairly easily but as I was going to rehook the supply lines (where the water goes into the faucet) I noticed one line looked different from the other.  One had a little black gasket on it.  The other was plain silver.  This I knew could not be good.  I went looking for the other black gasket and found it wedged into the old faucet.  I tried to dig it out but it just crumbled everywhere.  So I naively thought I would just go buy a new gasket.  Naive....very naive... and this is where the faucet installation takes a turn to the dark side.

At the Home Depot I ask the helpful man where I might find these little gaskets.  I am informed there are no such things.  You must replace the entire supply line.  I have the old kind of lines (I had no idea) and you must remove everything- the line and the angle stop valve it is hooked to.  This will involve shutting off the water to the entire house and getting down there with two wrenches, dismantling the old angle stop and putting in a new one.  Clearly not easy.  Mr. Helpful gave me the parts I needed and then recommended I do both lines.  I told him no, the other isn't broken.  Well let me say this- if the guy at Home Depot says you need two, save a trip and buy two.  Lesson learned.

Above is the bad supply line.  Before attempting faucet replacements check your lines!  Lesson learned!  Whats bad is that the line is integrated into the valve.  The line can not be replaced without the valve being replaced.  Replacing the valve is not easy.

These are good valves.  You can remove just the supply line if needed.  These are the ones I (with tons of help from my husband- umm maybe he actually did it while I held the second wrench) installed.  Notice there are two new ones.  That guy at the Home Depot knew what he was talking about.   Installing these took like three hours.  All the water to the house has to be turned off and our main shut off valve was acting up.  I got sprayed in the face once.  I flooded the bathroom and by the time I was done I looked as if I had gone swimming in my clothes.  And all that was after my hubby graciously decided to help me.   At one point both me and my husband had to stuff our upper bodies into that tiny cabinet.  Go ahead scroll up and look at that tiny cabinet.  Me and my husband... laying belly to belly in those tiny openings.  Did I mention I had gotten him out of bed and he hadn't brushed his teeth yet?  Yeah it doesn't take long to foul up  2 cubic feet of air.    We got the first one done, turned on the water and it sprayed everywhere.  We took it off, reinstalled it and tried again and it held.  I was so happy!  My husband left to go shower (and brush his teeth!!) and I rehooked the old supply line to the other side.  Well wouldn't you know it- we turned on the water again and it sprayed everywhere (it was my third bath under the cabinet!)  Turns out the other gasket also crumbled.  So it was back to the Home Depot for another valve and another line.  We start to replace it and realize I bought the wrong size line.  In my defense all the lines look the same!  So back to the Home Depot again.  They have these little cameras on the self check lanes and what I would give to have my videos from each purchase.  Each time I went in more wet and more pissed off than the time before.  By the end my hair was on end, I smelled of dirty water, and my clothes were dripping.  A pretty picture I was not.  However we did get the last valve and line in, it did not leak.  My husband helped me reassemble the drain- its hard to get it tight enough, you need to really put some muscle behind it.  Below is the finished product:

 But uh oh... what do we see here?  Its brass on the bottom of the mirror.... Its like the "If you give a Moose a Muffin..." of bathrooms!  If you replace a hook, you need to replace a faucet.  If you replace a faucet, you need to replace a mirror....  Will I be able to leave the mirror???  I hope so!

At least the TP holder matches!  Please ignore my filthy floor.  I promise I have mopped since then!
THE MORAL:  Check your supply lines before attempting faucet replacements!  And listen to the guy at Home Depot!

Thanks for stopping in!  I have a really cool box of cards that made and I promise that will be the next thing up.  No more crazy home repair for me!