It started out innocently enough. The kitchen sink faucet has been dripping. I hate the faucet (and the sink too, for that matter), so rather than replace the washer, I decided to get a better faucet. It’s 25 miles to Home Depot, but no worries.
After my 50-mile round trip, I start the replacement. I managed to get the water lines off of the old faucet, the try to unscrew the big plastic retainers holding the old faucet to the sink. They’re stuck. I try pliers. No joy. I try vice-grips. Can’t get ahold of them. So I used the vice-grips to grasp one of the ‘ears’. That did it. On one of them. The other one… the ‘ears’ snapped off. After many arduous tries, I finally got the other one off.
Putting the new faucet on was a snap. Let’s try it out! What’s that splashing? I’d dislodged the down-pipe from the drain, and was dumping water into the cabinet. :mad: I tried to screw the down-pipe back on. Nope. It was only being held on by two threads anyway, and it looked like the threads on the drain were chipped. Off to the hardware store! (I ran into The Missus on the way out, and told her not to use the sink.) I bought a new drain and down-pipe, and… The drain wouldn’t fit the hole. I figured out there was a retaining ring on the bottom. I took it off and tried again. Nope. There’s a ‘pot’ under the drain, and no way to put on the retaining ring. Nothing to do but glue it down with kitchen/bathroom sealant. But wait! Mrs. L.A. said, 'Just go get a new sink! We both hate that one anyway!) I did not want to drive to Bellingham again, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Back to town.
On the way I thought, ‘Wait a minute… If I get a single sink like Mrs. L.A. wants, I’ll have to re-do all of the pipes!’ Bugger. I’ll deal with it. I get to Home Depot, and they don’t have any sinks the size I need. (Old house, funky 18"x26" sink.) I call Lowe’s. They don’t have any that size either. Rather than go home empty-handed, I bought some sealant. I use the sealant to put the drain in the sink. I cut the new down-pipe to fit. I hook everything up. And… Where the down-pipe goes into the drain pipe, it’s leaking. I can’t figure out how to fix it. Call the plumber. No answer.
I get up from the couch, where I was on the computer, and trip over my power cord. At least Macs have magnetic cords for just such an eventuality. I planned on meat loaf for dinner. I put everything into the stand mixer and turn it on. I tightened the bowl the wrong way. It dislodged and made a mess.
I called a different plumber, and they’ll be out in the morning. The meat loaf is done, and we’re about to eat. But man, what a sucky day!