Another water leak

[ChadTower]

Dammit... I haven't even finished cleaning up the last one and this time the kitchen faucet sprung a leak... on the hot water side.  Of course, just like last year when the bathroom faucet did this, the cutoff valve is useless.  Doesn't stem the flow much at all.

So, gotta find a plumber tomorrow.  Grr.

[shmokes]

That's lame.  I hope stuff like this doesn't have to come out of your PB&J fund.  That's would be no fun.

[shardian]

Dammit... I haven't even finished cleaning up the last one and this time the kitchen faucet sprung a leak... on the hot water side.  Of course, just like last year when the bathroom faucet did this, the cutoff valve is useless.  Doesn't stem the flow much at all.

So, gotta find a plumber tomorrow.  Grr.

Any time I do plumbing, I just shut off the main supply. You can never be too safe. 

[ChadTower]

I had to shut off the main supply anyway to stop the leak.  It was the only way.  I wanted to shut off just the sink so that we could do stuff like bathe and have water to the rest of the house until the repair... no such luck.

shmokes, there isn't enough in my pb+j fund to cover this anyway.  That money is going to a new dot matrix screen for The Shadow.

[shardian]

It doesn't take long (or much skill or knowledge) to replace a kitchen faucet and a shut off valve. I really don't see why you would want to pay a plumber $100 to do it.

[ChadTower]

Because it is beyond my skills to do in one day.  And my pinball machines are under that stop valve.

[shardian]

...if I can do it (three times I might add due to putting the wrong hose to the wrong line, and my wife palying around with the setup while I was under there and reversing the dag gone seal at the bottom...) in 3 hours, then you can too. I am quite the amateur, and the faucet I connected was a little more complicated than a standard 2 valve kitchen faucet.

[ChadTower]

$275 installed for a new faucet.  Ow.

[shardian]

trust me, a kitchen faucet is cake. The only crappy part is laying on your back halfway into the cabinet...

[NightGod]

Faucets are about as simple a home repair as you can get. Where, exactly, is the water leaking from? Might even be something as easy as a 5 cent rubber gasket.

[ChadTower]

I'm sure it's not a hard thing for someone more experienced with plumbing than I am... I make small changes, not comfortable cutting or anything yet.  I want this one done right and am willing to pay for it.

It's really old, has brass nonflexible feeding lines that need to be replaced, and I fear that even if I tried this one I would run into issues with the age of the pipes... cracking a joint someplace else or something like that.  It's too close to my pins to mess with.

It's not the gasket... it's an ancient faucet that already had a cracking base.  The faucet itself wouldn't swivel anymore because it was corroded... I forced it to swivel last night and boom it started pouring hot water down the back of the housing into the floor.

[NightGod]

Being more experienced with plumbing really has nothing to do with it-all my experience was learned when ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- went wrong in my house and I fixed it. If it's brass lines, buy some PVC pipe and some flexible lines and replace it. PVC is insanely easy to work with (cut with a hacksaw, smooth the burrs from the cut with an utility knife, PVC primer, PVC adhesive, stick together, wait 90 seconds). Take some measurements (thickness of the pipes you are replacing and the pipes that those are connected to, length of the pipe you need to replace), go to a local hardware store (real one, not a big box store) and ask them for help picking out the right stuff.

You could replace half the plumbing in your house with PVC with $275 and a lazy day spent drinking beer and occasionally doing some work.

[shardian]

Just  What you do is this: Get a pipe cutter, cut the line right below the existing valve. Get a no-solder compression fitting valve to replace it with. ( I saw this on a pbs repair show one time. Neat stuff!) Bam! The line is repaired with no soldering/banging around. Next remove old faucet and put in new one.

Read This:
http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infplumb/infcomp.shtm

[mr.Curmudgeon]

And my pinball machines are under that stop valve.

Eh?

[shardian]

There is NO NEED to replace all of your copper piping with pvc. 1/2" copper is standard for supply lines in your house. Waste lines however are now commonly pvc pipe.

[NightGod]

I never said he *should* replace it, just said that for the $275 the guy wants to charge him, he *could* replace. Sorry if there was confusion there.

[ChadTower]

It's done now anyway.  Sometimes I will do stuff myself, like with the water heater leak.  Sometimes I pay the pro.  Like today.  I couldn't take another day off after being on vacation for a week and a half and taking wednesday to fix the water heater.  I'm working from home right now and that itself was pushing it on a friday.

I do need to learn about compression fittings.  I'm going to replace the stop valve myself soon and will use those for that.  And I'll have to learn pipe soldering and cutting, too.

[shardian]

Damn...$300. I sure hope you at least got a gold plated Kohler Faucet out of that. 

[ChadTower]

Nope.  But I did get it done within two hours of calling.  And it was only $275!   

[J_K_M_A_N]

Seriously Chad, you could have done it yourself in about an hour or less. I broke my bathroom faucet on a Sunday night at 7:30 and by 9:00 I had gone to menards and got a new one and replaced it. It is SO easy it isn't even funny. Compression fittings are super easy. Also, if you use flexible stainless steel hoses, a 5 year old could do it. The hardest part is removing the old faucet usually. Some of the old ones get stuck on there.

Sorry to hear you spent that much money on it.

J_K_M_A_N

[ChadTower]

I could have done it myself, you're right.  Would have taken much longer than an hour.  I would have done it myself, too, if the stop valve were working properly.  As it is, on a friday, if I tried this myself I'd be risking us having no water in the house at all, all weekend, until I got it up and going again.   I had to turn the whole house off because the hot stop valve to that sink wasn't stopping anything.

So, rather than risk not having any water all weekend and THEN having to call the plumber, I just called the plumber now.

It cost me but I was willing to pay this time.   

[NightGod]

I find it funny sad ironic that you were willing to jump in and replace an entire water heater solo, which involved both fuel and water lines, but then dropped $275 to replace a faucet. Your plumber is probably thrilled to death about the easy weekend drinking money you just paid him, though.

[ChadTower]

I had no intention of replacing the whole water heater.  Both times I identified the problem, decided whether or not my current skills fit the needs, and decided to have a plumber or not have a plumber.

If the water heater tank had been damaged I would have called the HVAC folks.

I find it a bit perplexing that people seem to care all that much.  Sometimes people do it themselves, sometimes they do not. 

[Vigo]

I think people just don't want you to waste your money when it isn't a difficult task.

I had a major pipe and kitchen faucet damage situation when my pipes froze last winter, never did plumbing before in my life.

I spend an hour researching how to fix it, then went to the store, bought a torch, pipe cutter, copper piping, soldier, other odds and ends, and a new kitchen sink.

I fixed the whole thing for under $50 even though I bought EVERYTHING new. I fixed it that day. I may have the cheap brand faucet, but it wasn't a difficult task, and everything is working great.

I think people just don't want to see you spend too much when the cost of repair seems to be a major concern of yours.

[somunny]

I find it a bit perplexing that people seem to care all that much. 

I care.  In fact, I'm staying tuned to see what hijinks unfold at the Tower household tomorrow.

[billf]

I spend an hour researching how to fix it, then went to the store, bought a torch, pipe cutter, copper piping, soldier, other odds and ends, and a new kitchen sink.

I fixed the whole thing for under $50 even though I bought EVERYTHING new. I fixed it that day. I may have the cheap brand faucet, but it wasn't a difficult task, and everything is working great.

You bought all that for under $50?!?  I wish I had a hardware store like that.  I would've guessed the new sink alone was over $50.

[Vigo]

Yep, Menards is cheaper than any hardware store I have seen... Torch about 7 dollars, flux/soldier/cutter set 5 dollars.

The sink was a walmart special for 32 dollars... its cheap, but does its job...at least it should until I leave the house next spring...

The piping materials brought it up to almost 50 dollars...I was very pleased with myself...

[billf]

Ah yes, Menards.  I see by your profile you're in Wisconsin, so am I.  You are right, they are usually the cheapest of the large box hardware places.  Right after I posted, I was thinking, he must've gone to Menards.   

Fifty bucks for all of that, you should be pleased. 

[shardian]

You know, I just put two and two together:

You said it was 2 hours total from the time you called.
Apparently, you did not get a high end new faucet in the deal.

So... a plumber is usually $40-$50 an hour (which is too much anyways). - $100 tops

A NICE new kitchen faucet would be $100 max. Your probably cost the plumber $20.

A new fitting - $3.

So... max you should have paid $200 for a super nice setup. You paid $275 for $123 worth of parts and labor (which is still a little high for the project at hand)


...wow. I sure hope you don't let your wife read this thread, or you are in hot water now.  (get it...hot water... oh never mind...)

[Vigo]

Ah yes, Menards.  I see by your profile you're in Wisconsin, so am I.  You are right, they are usually the cheapest of the large box hardware places.  Right after I posted, I was thinking, he must've gone to Menards.   

Fifty bucks for all of that, you should be pleased. 

I have noticed that there are a lot of members here from the upper-midwest 

No wonder there is a lot of competition on all the arcade cabs that go for sale 

[Ed_McCarron]

Yikes.

Any more water spraying around the Tower household and you'll need to vacate due to mold damage.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I find it a bit perplexing that people seem to care all that much.  Sometimes people do it themselves, sometimes they do not. 

Well, you are posting on a DIY site.   


mrC

[ChadTower]

So... max you should have paid $200 for a super nice setup. You paid $275 for $123 worth of parts and labor (which is still a little high for the project at hand)

In a way, yes, but I also paid for immediate response.  And in actuality the cost without that would be closer to $150.  But you're right, I overpaid, I knew I overpaid when I did it, and did it by choice because I didn't want to spend all day sourcing out plumbers because that would have meant taking a day off work, which costs me a lot more than the difference.

[boykster]

For $15 you can get a great book on home plumbing -> Black & Decker's Complete Guide to Home Plumbing.  It has all kinds of great stuff it in -> faucets, replacing valves, different types of piping and joints, etc.

You might check the library to see if they have it 

[JackTucky]

Hometime from PBS also has some great Howto tapes.  I bought some at a garage sale for .25cents each.

Jacktucky

[NinjaEpisode]

I found a great how-to book in the library once.

[shardian]

For $15 you can get a great book on home plumbing -> Black & Decker's Complete Guide to Home Plumbing.  It has all kinds of great stuff it in -> faucets, replacing valves, different types of piping and joints, etc.

You might check the library to see if they have it 

I have the bathroom version of this series. The pictures are the best of any home diy book I've seen.