Home (dis)repair and other (mis)adventures

So the gf finally convinced me that having hot water in your bathroom sink is a good thing, so this weekend I decided to tackle the installation of a new faucet and drain in the sink. Now, I've done some plumbing before, but largely of the camp or pool variety. So, I decided that, instead of fixing what was broken, we would buy a whole new set up for 40 bucks and install that instead. Easier, right?

Well, it was. After some minor setbacks, (like the fact that I don't actually fit under the sink, and my hands were too big for several of the openings, and my left arm is a useless apendage so I had to do everything right handed,) I had everthing going nicely. Drain was draining, water was hot, etc. I was a little proud, I mean it wasn't hard, but at least I hadn't fucked it up.

So, let's quickly go over some of the differences between plumbing in camps, pools, and houses. The biggest difference? When you fuck up plumbing a pool, the filter loses it's prime. Big deal, run a hose, re-prime, bam. You're good to go. When you fuck up while you're working on plumbing at a camp, some rocks get wet. When you fuck up in a house, well...

Monday afternoon, after a halfway decent Monday of work, as I reach into the fridge, I feel an drop of water on my head. Ominous. As I slowly tilt my head up to see why it is raining inside, I am a tad bit surprised to see a bubble of paint in the sailing. With a drip of water coming down towards me. Mind you, this isn't a small bubble, but a c-cup sized bubble.

At about this time is when the gf came home. I haven't yet resorted to cursing or killing small animals yet, but that moment isn't far away. Fortunately, I am fairly easy to read when I am in this mood, so both the gf and the dogface are still around today.

To make a long story short, apparently I somehow stripped some of the valves while I was running the pipe from the water pipes to the faucets. Unfortunately, it was only a slight stripping (think pasties and a thong) so there was no visual or audial drip. Instead, the water trickled slow down the water line, pooling on the floor behind the counter, where it eventually seeped through onto the seiling in the kitchen, where it de-mudded the sheetrock on the ceiling.

So, let's just say that improvements to the kitchen have moved up in the timeline.

Remember this if you ever hear me recommending that anyone else buy a house.