Well, I've just had a couple of fun filled days.
I had just finished off re-grouting the tiles in our bathroom, when the landlords son comes over to check the job. He was very pleased. They are cheapskates, and hire the incompetence to perform home maintenance, which always requires two or three more visits before the work is either completed properly, or entirely replaced.
You see my landlord is a wealthy man, who is as giving with money, as a hungry dog with a juicy bone.
So, a solution had to be found for our apartment. We live in a modest new york style two bedroom. The average rents for our apartment in this area range from $1800 to $3000. However, as my wife has lived here for some time, and our building is rent stabilized, he can only increase the rent by a city wide mandated amount each year. The bottom line is, we are not moving anywhere for the foreseeable future.
With the building is old, and his wallet hand being tight, I became frustrated with tiered repairs to our tired home. I decided to do the work myself.
The landlord compensates me in various ways for the upkeep of this apartment.
Okay, back to the story...
I had just completed tiling and re-grouting our bathroom, when the landlords son comes in to check, and is very pleased with my work. While he looked around he observed the dripping faucet in out bathroom sink. So he goes the the local hardware store a buys me a 5 cent replacement rubber washer, and disappears to inspect some other building.
EASY JOB. Turn the water off with the stop valve under the sink, remove the tap head, take out the valve shaft, replace the broken washer, and refit. This job will take 15 minutes.
I turn off the basin stop valve and remove any water remaining in the system, the water keeps gushing?
So, I turn off the main apartment stop vales, the water keep flowing? More incompetent plumbing!!!
Knowing I need at least two days warning to stop the building water supply a decide a putty maneuver.
After I stop the water flow I take the cap off the tap. Its jammed. I persuade it off and it snaps. It had been glued on! I remove the valve shaft and it is rotten, and beyond assistance.
I take the broken cap, and valve to the hardware store, to get replacements. With replacements in hand, I attempt to fix the faucet. It doesn't fit. I return to the hardware store, and after further inspection for their 'chief' plumber, he says, 'Wow, I have seen one of these in over twenty years. They don't exist anymore'. So I decide, not wanting to pussy foot any longer, to replace the entire faucet set.
I first replace the rubber washer on the faucet inlet pipes (both hot and clod with defunct), so I don't have to use the putty.
Removing the pipe then becomes a challenge. They are very old, and, by the looks of things, had also been glued, and soldered over existing cracks. Why the hell didn't they replace the parts with $3 pipes in the first place?
I remove them, and as I suspected, completely unusable.
Back to the hardware store and get new pipes.
I fit all the pipes, and the sink, turn on the water, and ... a leek!
What! I know everything is OK, so why the leek!
Its 10 o'clock at night and I need some sleep, so I stop the water and hit the sack.
Day 2
I remove the sink, and pipes right back to the1/4" cast iron pipe of the waste outlet. It's completely rotten. The only reason it hadn't leaked, is the decades of compacted matter in the hole. Ugh!!
It's stuck! It is not only going through Sheetrock (plaster boards) but has been cemented in. Out comes the chisels and free access to the entire pipe. Its still stuck. Out comes the WD40. After more wrench influence I remove it.
So, here's where I was. And remember it was to fix a 5 cent rubber washer!
I replace the pipe and reinstall the sink. The job is done, or is it? The sink will not fit against the wall. So, I remove everything once again, and inspect the wall brackets that holds the sink tho the wall. These brackets can be affixed in various ways depending on the type of wall the sink sits on. This was fitted to Sheetrock(plaster board). So instead of using the correct Sheetrock brackets, they have used 6, very thin wood screws. Water had got into the Sheetrock, and now useless.
Back to the hardware store, for some expanding, spring clip bolts.
I bolt the brackets, refit the pipes and sink, And turn the water back on.
NO LEEKS, with the sink firmly attached.
Why do people think that taking the easy root is the best.
Well, I back on track with the bathroom. The bath is sanded and primed for painting.
steve