Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Cajones

Conrad came home today to find the kitchen a disaster, and me standing exhausted by the sink.

"I need your help," I told him.

He exhaled loudly (he's not a fan of home projects), but started rolling up his sleeves.

"I promise it's easy and won't take long," I said.

One hour later, we had our new kitchen faucet completely installed. To my credit, I did everything. This included shutting down the main water line to our house, which requires a special tool, just so you know. All I needed Conrad for was to teflon the fittings and tighten them.

Disclaimer: This project kicked my butt. It took me in total four hours and two trips to Lowes.

I originally bought a new faucet and sprayer because our old ones were leaking (and I secretly wanted new ones to match the new cabinet hardware). However when I took things apart, I realized the problem wasn't the faucet or the sprayer, but the cold water valve. It wasn't controlling the water flow properly. This malfunction was creating a large amount of pressure on the line, which caused seals to pop in the faucet and sprayer. So there I was, an hour later, back at Lowes to pick up new valves, flexible tubing, and the special tool to turn off the main water line. By the time Conrad had come home my arm was just too fatigued to go under the cabinet again.

I have to say that it will be a while before I do another home project. But I did love what Conrad told me when things were done. "Michelle, no one can say that you don't have cajones!" Con, thanks for being a great sport.



Old faucet: Notice how sprayer is laying over the sink so it won't leak water to the cabinet

New faucet: Notice sprayer is in a proper upright position (ha-ha)

3 comments:

Stacey B. said...

Nice job!! I wouldn't have any clue how to do such a thing. I actually really like doing home projects and I can't wait to have a house to do them on again. Well done!

Darin said...

Excellent. Thats the problem with home projects is they turn out to be way more work than you think. I suppose that is half the fun right.

Unknown said...

You sound so much like a scientist here...made me laugh. "This malfunction was creating a large amount of pressure on the line, which caused seals to pop in the faucet and sprayer. " That's great! My hat is off to you babe!