Tuesday, April 24, 2012

After Work Projects

I came home today and watered my flower in the front yard as usual.  I water it in the morning and when I get home from work.  When I turned off the water I noticed the faucet was dripping.  I tried to tighten it and it got worse.  This is a brand new faucet that was just put on when I moved in.  I couldn't leave it spraying water everywhere so I turned off the main water which was attached to the same pipe and headed over to the hardware store.  Unfortunately, I relied on my not-so-great memory to find the replacement part.  Once I was staring at all of the different faucet choices I had no idea what I needed.  I didn't even take a picture and I forgot to bring my phone so I couldn't call my parents and ask them to look at it for me.

I picked one out that I thought looked right and then, as back up, I bought one of those Y attachments that turns one faucet in to two and has a valve to shut them off.  Wouldn't you know it, I bought the wrong faucet but luckily the Y worked like a charm.  I just screwed it on and shut off both valves.  Tomorrow...or maybe this weekend I will go get the right faucet and fix it properly.  I am sure glad I had a back up plan though. I have enough experience with plumbing to know that buying a few extra pieces can save a whole lot of time and extra trips to the store.

6 comments:

Lizzie @ her homeworld said...

There really is always something....

My Frugal Miser said...

Buying one of all the options has saved me tons of wasted time when I've been working on my rental properties. Plumbing seems to be the worst offender - you'll swear you know which size "x" you need, only to figure out you needed "y". It's so easy to just return the unused parts at Home Depot or Lowe's or wherever that it's a no-brainer to buy extras with gas prices so high and then return them the next time you pass by that store.

Dave said...

It sucks that something brand new already caused you some problems, given that many older parts have caused you problems both here and in your previous place over the years. Good thing you have sharp instincts when it comes to repairs.

My one similar dabbling with good instincts was when a light switch in my place wore out just after I bought my apartment. But I figured that the other light switch in the wall immediately adjacent to the worn out one would fail soon, so I bought a second one and put it away. Sure enough, about a year later that one failed but it was not a big deal because its replacement was in my toolbox. (The local hardware store had gone out of business in the meantime, too!)

Daizy said...

Lizzie, when there is a day that I don't have something extra to do I consider it a holiday!

Daizy said...

Frugal Miser, it definitely is a good strategy. I should have been doing it long ago. At least now the hardware store is only 5 minutes away but still I don't want to go there every time I need something. I took a picture this time so I can exchange it.

Daizy said...

Dave, that sure was lucky to have another switch available especially with the store closing. It's even worse when you have to drive an hour to get a part. At least now I don't have to drive so far.