Sunday, July 10, 2011

Remodeling and Renewing

Today's Post:
     Everyone has to go through renovating or remodeling their home since things, specially home appliances, do not last forever.  This can make almost any sane person loose their heads if things start getting too out of control for them.  Things may seem to running perfectly in the home and all of a sudden something you took for granted for working will all of a sudden stop working and this will leave you feeling hopeless or add some unneeded stress to your life.  The problem can be anything such as a light bulb going out at night or your refrigerator can stop working causing your food to go bad within hours.  This could also cause a major unexpected financial problem depending on what home appliance has failed on you and could drain a person's savings account rapidly if the problem is not easily repairable.

     The past few days have been pretty hectic for me with installing new appliances at my house and dealing with problems that arise from doing that.  A few days back, my bathroom faucet would work without leaking everywhere so I had to turn off the cold water valve.  The bad part was, that even if we didn't use the faucet, the pipes under the sink would leak in the cabinet below it causing some water damage to the things we kept under there.  luckily nothing we cared about besides some toilet paper rolls..  Only hot water would come out of the faucet without causing any leaks so pretty much I had to replace the faucet.  This wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.
     One would think that a one size fits all sink would be made but much like the toilet seats people have to buy, they come in two very distinctive fittings which you won't realize there are until you are staring at them at the hardware store.  There are some that are just one main piece faucet with the handles attached to its base or there are 3 piece faucets which I have pictured here to the left.  I had the misfortune of not remembering which one I had installed in my bathroom so I had to make a run back home and then back to the hardware store.  Then I realized the huge price difference between the two.  It was just not my lucky day since the three piece faucet I needed, was $120 whereas the one piece was only $20.  And the faucet I bought wasn't anything fancy really, it was the one I have pictured.  No Ikea style faucet.

     I also had to change the toilet seat and much like the faucet, I never thought about it coming in more than one size besides choosing between a circular toilet seat and a round toilet seat.  Well they do come in different sizes and even if you take a guess-timation of the seat you already have, it wouldn't mean a damn thing since the variation is only about 2 centimeters for each different type of seat.  It was almost nerve wrecking having to just choose one without any proper measurements seeing as to how one can be wrong by only a few centimeters.  Well I guessed at the size, picked out my toilet seat and thankfully it was just the right size for my toilet.  Installing the seat was very easy to do seeing as to how this one only required a wrench to install it.  The faucet on the other hand, wasn't as easy to install or as quick to do it either.
     This is a much more smoother version of how things ended up going with me.  I watched the video first and  checked manuals and everything beforehand just so I could do this as painless as possible.  Unlike the video and most manuals I checked, my faucet and all thats connected to it, isn't shiny, new, or easily removable.  It took me quite a while to get it removed.  Installing I guess wasn't as difficult but still having to lay down in my uncomfortably small bathroom ad me being huge definitely took a toll on my back.

Comments:
     What are some of the home appliances that have failed on you in the past?  have any home appliances ever failed on you when you actually needed them the most?  One case for me would be when my high ceiling light bulb died and I was having guests over.  We had to take our dinner over to the kitchen and eat it standing up on the counter since I had no candles and I didn't have a 15 foot latter to reach the light.

11 comments:

  1. My kitchen light doesn't work right now, I can't figure out how to remove the cover. :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. I live in an apartment so if anything breaks that I didn't buy myself, I can usually get maintenance to repair or replace it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I have had issues with my dryer before. But, I just ripped it apart, found the part with the burnt fuse, then went to a local shop to get a repair. It was actually pretty easy. Had no clean clothes for a while though...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy shit that's an expensive faucet. And I had no idea toilet seats come in different sizes.

    I'm stuck with a 20 year old microwave and an even older fridge at the moment, I'm sort of holding my breath walking past them not to disturb them from their ancient slumber.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't want to talk about where I live now. External, communal men's and women's bathrooms and toiletries...if it weren't for the fact that I'm technically on a 3-month training endeavor (privations and, save for the lack of internets, computer, and video games, without most of civilization's nicities) I would've headed back into the city and just luxuriate in a bath.

    ...I miss baths.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My toilet has failed me many times lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've had the washer go out so many times!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember when my toilet seat failed I almost fell in the closet lol
    +followed ;)

    ReplyDelete