B & K DIY..and We Still Like Each Other

This weekend my kiddos were out of town on a church retreat. You might think my husband I would live it up and party. If your definition of party is fix the shower and install a new vanity you are correct! We did party!

In my last post I talked about the struggle bus we were on when it came to replacing the cartridge in our downstairs shower. Well, the part came in the mail so we made another attempt to fix the leaky situation. Everything went exactly as it was supposed to until I was done and the water continued pouring out of the faucet. I got my flashlight and discovered a tiny piece of rubber blocking the cartridge from being able to sit correctly. Our brilliant idea was to pull everything out, turn the water back on full blast and see if we could get the piece out. IT WORKED!! Not only did that piece come out a second piece flew out as well. Aside from flooding the bathroom due to the shower curtain being out of the tub we were quite pleased. Once it was out everything clicked smoothly into place.

Our next DIY project for the weekend was to install a new vanity. We have had a pedestal sink the entire time we have lived here and it has never been terribly steady. The hot water tap has been leaking for awhile so we MacGuyvered it to make sure the water stayed at the sink. I took it apart a couple of months ago and could not get the tap out. Even the Facebook hive mind generated suggestions didn’t work. Our plumber told us it would be cheaper to install an entire new vanity than to replace the cartridges on a sink that is at least 30 years old.

We removed the pedestal sink, scraped off the old paint and wallpaper, filled the holes and sanded everything down. We also primed the area and took measurements. I have to say, my hubs did an incredible job measuring and cutting everything. I am a hands on person who sometimes might skip the directions just to get my hands dirty. He wants to do a project once and he wants to do it right. In this case I was completely on his side. We did need to make another trip to the hardware store so we decided to get lunch while the primer dried. Patrons at the restaurant we went to were robbed later in the evening by a guy who grabbed purses and ran out the door. I’m glad we went for lunch.

Later in the evening we placed the vanity, hooked up the faucet and all of the pipes…and it leaked. After another trip to the hardware store, bruised knees and sore backs my hubs was able to overcome the leak! So far, so good. When our kids got home they were very surprised! My son is not a huge fan because all four of us can’t stand around it and spit toothpaste at the same time…not that we did that anyway. That would be weird.

You might think that is the end of our plumbing drama but alas, it is not. The other day I paid off the powervent that was installed on our HVAC. The same day we discovered a leak to the basement from the upstairs bathroom. There is a giant crack in the cast iron pipe that leads from the upstairs bath to the sewer line. We are not even going to attempt a DIY project. While we worked well as a team on our projects this weekend, replacing the cast iron is being left to the pros.

Have you replaced plumbing or done major projects on your home? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!