"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

A five minute job. (refers to the taps)

I felt I needed an introduction to this weeks song, how's this?




Leaking taps... no worries, I can fix that... easy... YEAH!!!


I hope Bloglines don't mind me borrowing their resident plumber,
seemed to good a chance to miss when he showed up on my
plumbing day.


When I turned the Hot tap off in my shower this morning it wanted to
keep running fortunately my bathroom taps are the older spigot type
so I can simply replace the tap washers, no worries.

Now this decision was made in the morning, and as anyone who knows
me will agree, mornings are not my best time of day, I normally try to
defer any decisions until way past noon.

Please also bear in mind that I haven't even turned the computer on
or checked a single blog, you can see that already my day was in
chaos, I just hadn't realized it yet.

After inspecting
my supply of tap washers and finding them wanting I
visited the local
hardware store and bought some "special compound
rounded seal"
super tap washers, real state of the art I was told.

So far so good, now I'll just turn off the mains water supply (yes I do
know this much about plumbing)so that I
can safely remove the
offending tap innards and replace the faulty
washers, yes I decided to
repair the 4 bathroom taps while I was at it, as all of them were
needing just a little more pressure to turn them off.

After removing the cover from the mains supply box I found, to my

surprise, that it was FULL of soil, seems it offered a nice dry place for
a colony of ants to live in when we got that rain a few days ago.

They were certainly an industrious bunch I must say, however they
were no match for my trusty little shovel and my, at this stage,
unbridled enthusiasm, having emptied the ants nest and turned off
the
water I hastened off to repair the leaky taps.

Starting out with the shower taps there was no problem so over to
the
vanity unit, wow somebody sure tightened these ones up....
larger
spanner.. no worries.. replace the tap washers and go and
turn the
water back on.

Test the shower taps, perfect not a drip with practically no pressure on
the taps at all, check the vanity taps... Yeah... working perfectly... wait
a
minute... why is the floor wet?

Hoo Boy those taps were tight I've moved
the pipes a bit and now the
cold water is leaking from the pipe work that's hidden away in the
bowels of the vanity.


Realign the pipes and tighten the fittings... no worries... that's fixed
them... hang on that water is now coming from the drain... damn...
another trip to the hardware store, get new seals for the S bend
fittings and install them... no worries... wait on the floor is wet again.

Now the water is coming from the drain again but this time from the
base of the basin not the pipework... mumble, mumble... lets see now,
it looks like the neoprene washer has stretched and twisted...

Back to the hardware store, where we are now on first name basis, get
another washer and the exciting news that most plumbers throw that
washer away and just use a bit extra silicone around the fitting.

Well I'm no plumber (this is becoming more obvious by the minute) so
I'm gonna use that washer... and I did... three times... before I finally
gave
it the heave ho and loaded that sucker up with silicone.

By this stage I am not brimming over with confidence so each time I test
for leaks I'm pretty sure I'm gonna find some... Eureka... not a drop of
escaping water anywhere... no worries.

Now I'm assuming from past experience that a visit by a plumber to fix
my dripping shower would have cost around $50, they don't work cheap,
instead I have made a colony of ants homeless (the plumber would have
done this too) I have had three trips to the Hardware store (made some
new friends) spent $22 on bits and pieces and whiled away 5 hours, not
too bad for a five minute job.

The sad part is that the offending shower tap was so easy to fix, if only
I had stopped there!!!!

Here we are all finished, floor mopped up just got to put the vanity
back together and everything back into it.

A closer look at the offending supply pipe work and drainage pipework,
Oh... did I mention my aching back from clambering around on hands
and knees for about 3 of those hours?

What is the cost of a visit to the Chiropractor? now let's see I should
know that... when was it that I fixed the lawn mower???



21 comments:

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~ my "plumbing" little ?
brother. Alls well that ends well. a
story told very well. I haven't told
you this before, but I always turn off the music on most blogs, as it is
a distraction etc. Sorry. Take care,
Merle.

Miss Cellania said...

I remember that gif, under the title "How stickmen became extinct." Funny story!

wazza said...

Ho! ho! ho! Peter. Gee why doesn't this happen when I'm visiting as I'd be either only too pleased to help you (remember the help I gave you with painting the roof at Toowoomba....oops sorry you didn't want to be reminded about that again...sorry point) or I'd just video tape the event (mind I'd have to delete or beep over those funny words you use...like when one hits their finger with a hammer...like gosh and gee whiz)

Jo said...

what a crack up, I could just imagine you mumbling and cursing.. and the poor ants... hope you took them outside..lol

Cliff said...

I would laugh at this had it not have happened to me. I think every plumbling project looks sooo easy but it's all those darned little parts we're missing.
Funny post Peter. Keep it up. Go find something else to fix. We'd love to hear about it.

JunieRose2005 said...

;0 Peter,

I enjoyed your story. It's one of those more fun in the telling than it is in the 'DOING', I would think!


Junie

Christina said...

Funny! i hate how things that seem so easy and simple turn into all-day sources of frustration.

kenju said...

The chiropractor I used to go to charged more than the average plumber, Peter. Next time, call the plumber and save your back!

Puss-in-Boots said...

Hi Peter,

Know what? I'm glad I'm not a male!!! I make enough cock ups without trying "men" things like plumbing, etc, lol!

Hope there are no drips now and that the ants haven't take revenge and invaded the pantry!!

fergiesfabfotos said...

Peter, I need my taps fixing! Are you available!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jackie M.

Jack K. said...

Well, Peter, I'll remember to put your name on the list of folks to call for such technical information. Not.

You do tell a story in a most amusing way. It was all the more amusing becuase I could put myself in the midst of the action.

It reminded me of times when I used to work on my MG Midget. You know, minor tune ups the graduated into rebuild the carburettors, replace the brakes, install a new top? At any rate, we had a first class auto hobby shop on post with all of the proper tools and technical assistance.

My wife would ask how long it would take. Oh, about an hour. She knew I would be gone for most, if not all, of the day. On occasion she would have to come get me and take me back the next day to comlete the job.

I am really thankful that things under the hood of that little red Del Sol are much too complicated for me to even consider working on them.

But, those were the days.

Thanks for sharing. Btw, you keep a very neat bathroom.

ROTFLMAO

Marcus said...

Brilliant Bog Blogging Pop.
Laughed out loud upon reading the line,"on a first name basis at the hardware store".

This one goes straight to the pool room (pardon the pun!)

As you'll see I've done a little renovating at Holt Press 2, you're right, it's way easier. Not sure what to do about all my beloved history abandoned back at the original Holt Press!

Duke_of_Earle said...

Peter,
First, I remember the golf joke well and the punch line, so I didn't need to go back and re-read it. Very apt!

Second, over a year ago I had a similar experience to your plumbing one (haven't most of us? That's why it's so funny -- we can all relate!) and posted about it. It involved a toilet wax ring leaking. That led to other plumbing leaks, unrelated appliance and electronic failures, automobile problems, and spawned the whole "C" (shhh... "conspiracy"...) series of posts. My point is, watch out! The rest of your possessions may now begin to take on near-sadistic tendencies and fail one after the other!

John

jules said...

Petey's playing with his pipes? Oh man, sweetie, you leave yourself WIDE open.....

Jacqui said...

Hi Peter,
loved the "5 minute job".
I am in Vermont at the moment, and here alone in the house so have time to read a blog or two.
Tried to get to Holtpress, but see from Marcus comment that things have changed.
This trip has been fantastic again, you should try it sometime, and maybe catch up with some of your blogging buddies,
bye for now jacqui

Laurie said...

Perfect cartoon for the song!

Faith Bicknell said...

In my house, it's electrical problems.

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Oh, Peter ... you poor bugger !!! Murphy's Law, don't you think !!
I've got a few washers that need changing, would you like the job ???
Have a wonderful week.
Take care, Meow

Lee said...

I just love those *five-minute* jobs! Why is it that they always seem to turn into five hour jobs! I've been going to rip apart a tap in my bathroom but the other day, out of the blue, it decided it wanted to work properly again...so that was lucky...for it...and for me! ;)

Jeanette said...

Hi Peter
Just catching up again
I can relate to your plumbing job fixing one leading to the next.
I opened the the cupboard under the sink and the water come out to meet me, so had to get a plumber in $270 a new tap and washes on other taps in house while he was at it.

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