Some men love to fix things. They’re DIY experts. Every woman should feel blessed to have such a man in the house. Then, there are some men believe they can fix things that need repair. They take on a project with either grumps or gusto, only to find - usually somewhere right in the middle of the job - they’re having real problems. With tongue in cheek and no insult intended, we call these “Husband Fails.”
Sometimes not having the right tools leads to a “fail”. Other times, who can predict? Here are a few of the most common fails we hear.
That Drippy Faucet
Most faucets have a “cartridge” that controls the flow of water to the spigot when you turn the handle. Moen, Delta, Kohler and other manufacturers each use their own unique cartridge design. Replacing the cartridge looks like an easy job, but you need to remove the faucet handle to extract the old cartridge and install the new one.
You can expect a faucet that has been in service for many years to suffer some corrosion. Often the screws holding the handle in place corrode, making them hard to loosen and remove. To make matters worse, those screws are often tiny and hidden out of sight.
Some DIY-ers go to a home store and buy the proper cartridge. But when they get home, they have trouble finding the screws to remove the handle. And then, more trouble finding a tool that can reach inside and break the screws loose from the corrosion.
We heard of one case where the man resorted to removing the screw that held the faucet handle in place with his electric drill. Sadly, that ruined the handle. He found it would take several days to get a new handle delivered from the manufacturer. He decided to buy an entire new faucet.
Knowing where to find the screws and having the right tools could have made the cartridge replacement a 15-minute job instead of an expensive faucet replacement.
Leftover part? What’s This?
“Fittings” are the connectors that join pipes to one another. An “elbow” fitting lets you connect two pipes at an angle. A T lets you connect three pipes in a T shape. Simple enough.
Yet specialty fittings, like those often used to connect a water heater to the supply pipe, may have several parts: an adapter, a union, a sweat insert and a couple of plastic gaskets. Your DIY-er needs to understand which part connects where and how to place the gaskets and inserts. You don’t want to have “leftover” parts. They guarantee leaks.
The Sink Stopper That Wouldn’t Open
You’d like your bathroom sink stopper to move up and down when you lower or raise its actuator handle. After several years of use, the actuator underneath the sink can corrode and break off, preventing the stopper from raising. It’s an easy fix, but only if you can find the right parts at your neighborhood home or hardware store.
The broken piece might be the stopper itself, usually made of plastic. Or, it could be the internal actuator inside the drain pipe. One DIY-er we heard about threw away the old stopper after he determined it was broken. He brought a new stopper home but found it was too short to engage the internal actuator. On his next trip to the store he found one the right length, but it was too wide to fit into the drain.
Creative as always, and tired of repeat trips to the store, he borrowed his wife’s Dremel tool and sawed off the offending parts of the stopper to make it fit; another repair that could have been finished in about five minutes.
Plumbing work can be truly annoying for DIY-ers, especially when, after working for hours, the pipe or faucet still leaks. That’s where A-1 American comes in. Call us today and let us fix your plumbing issues for you and avoid the dreaded “Husband Fail.”
