We've had an interesting weekend. Ever since we moved into the new house we've wanted to change our kitchen faucets. The old ones were ok enough but because of the extreme hard water, there was a lot of residue on them that was hard to remove. So we chose this weekend to change them out.
We didn't just change the faucet, we also bought a new garbage disposal, new shut-off valves, all new drain pipes...everything under the sink was to be brand new including new tile for the cabinet floor. We reasoned that we shouldn't do things half-assed, we should make it all brand new and pretty. It was probably a good idea considering the hard water deposits on the faucets but My Guy is not a plumber and he hates plumbing but he also knows it shouldn't be all that hard (if you know what you are doing...ha ha)
So Saturday noon, off we went to the local Home Depot list in hand to buy the faucets and the plumbing supplies we needed. Some $400+ later (who knew it could be so expensive) we were outta there and on our way home to get to work. My Guy, turns the water off at the main valve, and started taking things apart only to discover that the shut-off valves we bought were the wrong ones, so back to Home Depot we go. And while we are there, we might as well get... well, you know how it goes...$$$ cha...ching.
We get back home to find a puddle of water under the sink. What the heck??? We had turned the water off at main valve, there shouldn't be water under the sink but there it is, a big puddle of water. We mop up and discover that the ugly cabinet flooring/tile can't be scraped up because it's wet and it takes heat to dislodge it. Now we have to wait until morning for it to dry so it will come up without destroying the cabinet bottom. My guy does what he can under the sink and before you know it, it's 7 PM and too dark to see under the sink.... where did the time go?
Sunday morning we have our coffee, read the paper, do our usual Sunday morning stuff before getting started. My Guy is finally able to scrape the old tile off the cabinet floor so I can do the tiling while he finishes the plumbing. Geeze, it only 7 12" X 12" flooring tile pieces, they already have the adhesive on them and all I have to do is cut 4 tiles to fit. Who knew 7 floor tiles would be so frustrating? To be fair, the cabinet bottom was not square and it was my first time laying this type of tile. Once they were down, that was it. There should have been only 5 cuts, but nooooo, I had to cut them at least twice that many times....and my guy is looking at me like, 'how long is this going to take?' No, he didn't say it and was actually quite supportive but I felt like an idiot. Unfortunately, there are gaps in the tile and I know that every time I look at it I'm going to wince.
Finally, the faucets are going in and they look beautiful and everything is going smoothly...too smoothly. Of course, it was the tubing that leads from the water to the fridge that started to leak. Turn the nut, leak. Turn again, leak slower but still leaking and so on. My guy says "I can't turn it much more" and I hear the frustration in his voice. I rush over to research on the net. Thank goodness for the net. The writer says, 'use a plastic compression valve with plastic tubing'....a ha! That's it.
So now it's all going together and it looks beautiful. The pipes look great, the faucets look great, the disposal looks good, and even the new sink rings took great.... It couldn't be that simple could it? No, of course it couldn't. We started the dishwasher and all was going well until it started to drain and now there was more water everywhere and it was coming out the overflow vent. What the hell? Now what?? Back to the net I go. What I learn this time is that the knock out plug had to be knocked out if you're going to drain a dishwasher through the garbage disposal and it hadn't been thus causing the overflow. More mop up to be done and then disconnect the dishwasher drain, knock out the plug and reconnect. Then try again with our fingers crossed. Whew, this time it all works. Well, we hope.....
Aren't they beautiful? I think so. I'd show you under sink but well I think My Guy and I are the only ones who'd find that interesting. Thanks for reading.
