DIY Follies

I’m a pretty handy guy.  There isn’t too much in a house that I’m unable to fix when it breaks.  The only exception is plumbing- by which I mean copper pipes.  Faucets and toilets I can deal with.  Even things that I’ve never dealt with before I’m unafraid to tackle because I’ve done enough fixit projects and collected enough tools to feel comfortable that I’ll be able to get myself out of whatever trouble I get myself into.

Of course, that doesn’t mean things always go swimmingly.  Sometimes you get into a project and it just bleeds you dry to the point that even once completed, there is no sense of achievement.  Allow me to illustrate.

We start things off by seemingly getting something accomplished- I fixed two toilets by replacing the tank refill assembly in both of them.  Unfortunately, the accomplishment gets marred by virtue of the realization that by fixing the toilet, I caused a leak at the shutoff valve for the feed that fills the tank.  To further add insult to injury, this new leak goes undetected for about 24 hours.  By that point, a largish puddle had developed on the drywall ceiling in the basement.  In order to drain the puddle from the ceiling, the painter poked several holes in the ceiling.  Then, in order to help things dry out, he cut a square foot hole in the ceiling.

So, fix the toilet only to put holes in a ceiling.

Dealing with the leak was straightforward- I merely replaced the metal pipe with a flexible one with a built in rubber gasket.  No more leak.  In order to be safe, I go on to replace the same piece of pipe on the toilet upstairs.  After finishing, I glance into the bathtub… and see a drip from the faucet.

Here’s a very condensed version of the next 5 hours.  First, I had to go buy 2 different handle pullers, and combine them to make one that would work for this faucet, turn off the main water supply, then turn the handle as far as it would go before I could successfully get the handle puller to remove the faucet handle.  Then, I made a trip to the local hardware store, followed immediately by a trip to Home Depot in order to get the required replacement parts.  I replace the spindle and attempt a test run by turning the water back on.  The resulting spray of water quickly convinced me that I had to shut the water off again- and replace another piece of the faucet that I had hoped would not need replacing.  In order to fix this part, I discovered that I needed an oddball size hex wrench.  So, back to the local hardware store.  Now, I had to struggle with removing this part, replacing it, and then reinstalling the new spindle.  Finally, the leak here was fixed, the shower and tub worked and the project was done.

But was my overall ordeal done?  Nope.  I discovered a second leak at the knob of the shutoff valve for the first floor toilet.  Break out the wrench to tighten a nut and stop the leak.  No go down to the main water line for one last check… only to discover that the shutoff valve there has a leak.  Once again, tighten with wrench and stop the leak.

So, just to be clear, fixing two toilets results in holes in ceilings (and another fixit project) and leads to a painful lesson in faucet replacement.  I’m certainly not pulling out the champagne to celebrate the fixed toilets.

Of course, now that I’ve been through this, how bad can the next time be?