Prayer and Plumbing

When I moved into this house 7 months ago, I knew that I would gradually have to work on some "handywoman" type projects. Don't get me wrong - the house was move in ready. But some things were out-dated, and I just wanted to add my own taste. I took care of the most important things first...like my bathroom. It had the original 1980 mocha-colored toilet, not to mention nice dark brown shag carpet. Yes, the bathroom. That was changed before I ever moved in - and a nice white toilet, and ceramic tile now adorn the bathroom.

However, I had not done much in the guest bathroom. The tub had only the faucet, but no shower. I talked to a few contractor-type guys at church, and they told me the best way for me to remedy the "no-shower" issue. So today, there is now a shower head installed. It was easier than I anticipated. Basically just had to remove the old spout, put on an adaptor to the existing pipe so it could house a new universal spout with a divertor - and then attach the new shower hose/nozzle to it with a wall mount. I was happy. Nothing leaked.

So I moved on to the faucet at the sink. Not so easy. I have never done any type of plumbing before - but didn't really want to shell out the $$ for a plumber - so that was incentive enough to at least try it. But the existing faucet was the type with one pull knob. I'm sure lots of people like those - not me.

And since I had already replaced the light fixture, I wanted something to match. I found a great Delta faucet, and set out to become a plumber apprentice. I managed to get the old faucet off, with the help of my brother via telephone. And soon had the new one on. But I quickly realized that was only half the battle - as the drain plug also had to be replaced. That involved a new drain assembly. Hmmm...was I ready to tackle this? The logical path was - "what's the worst that can happen?" I knew that if I screwed up, I could indeed call a plumber to fix it. But if I could accomplish this - and save my $$ for something else - I would be much happier. I called my uncle (as my brother was no longer available) to get some advice, and he was confident I could do it. So I tore into it, and started removing things and soon held the drain assembly and p-trap in my hands. I tried to follow the instructions and do everything it said...and attached the new drain. The true test......would it leak?? Heavy sigh...yes...it dropped a couple drops of water underneath from the bottom of the sink. I must have stared at those few droplets for about 10 minutes. After regaining my senses, I took the drain assembly back off, added a GENEROUS amount of plumber's putty, and re-attached the seal. I tried to use more muscle this time, and got it tighter.

Test # 2. Turn the water back on, and let it run....and run....and run.... No Leaks!! Hooray!! I waited for a while, and ran the water again - I pulled the plug up and let water hold in the sink, and then let it drain, all that stuff. And hallelujah, no leaks! So this is my new faucet.

So I am quite thrilled. It's amazing what you can do, if only you try. Did I mention I prayed a lot during this??