I know it's been a while since the New House Blog was updated with New House updates, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been going on. So, without any further ado we present to you something that went on. As we have done before on a few occasions, we are featuring a returning guest star, the Parents' House.
But first, a couple of spring updates.
Update #1) At our New House we seem to be winning the ongoing war against the accursed shamrocks (aka bermuda buttercup, or buttercup sorrel) in our succulent garden. This season's crop of accursed shamrocks was the smallest and least-dense so far. The actual sprouts were few enough that we were able to pluck them out of the ground when we noticed them. Maybe in a year or two we won't get any in our succulent garden.
Update #2) As it is springtime, and our fruit trees are all a-leaf, a-bloom, and a-fruit, we performed the first
fire blight inspection of the year on our pear tree. There were a lot of infected branches, but it seems like the infection rate was less than it has been in previous years. Overall the pear tree is flourishing, and there should be some good pears, provided the slimy squirrels don't get them.
Sink #1
I got word from my parents that some of their bathroom sinks and faucets were in less-than-optimal shape and should possibly be repaired and/or replaced. There are three bathroom sinks at the Parents' House - one in the main bathroom, and two in the master bathroom. A quick inspection of said sinks and faucets resulted in the finding that two sinks and three faucets were in need of replacement, and one sink was in need of chip repair. I started this project in the main bathroom, which needed a faucet replacement and chip repair. When I replace faucets I also like to replace hoses and shutoff valves, so that's where I started.
As with the kitchen inlet pipes, the bathroom inlet pipes are non-threaded PVC, and the default inlet valves and hoses were odd
one-piece assemblies that theoretically were supposed to be removable by simply pulling and twisting. And this pulling and twisting worked for one of the two inlet pipes, but one of the inlet pipes decided to break rather than give up its valve/hose combo.
As you can see here, the cold water inlet pipe has a brand new Sharkbite brand shutoff valve, and the hot water pipe is broken off right at the wall. D'oh! Time to open the wall and figure out my repair options.
Well, it looks like I'll have to cut the pipe off at the base of the elbow, attach a new elbow and inlet pipe, and then I can add a new Sharkbite shutoff valve.
And that all would have been a quick job had it not been for that two-by-four that was in the wall against the pipe. D'oh again! Time to get a tiny saw and cut out a notch in that two-by-four to make room for a new elbow.
Here you see the new Sharkbite elbow and red Sharkbite PEX inlet pipe. I had to buy a 5-foot length of red Sharkbite PEX to get that 3-inch length. Also seen in this photo is one of my undersink work lights.
Two new shutoff valves and hoses. The hole in the wall will have to be attended to later. Now on to the actual faucet.
This is the old, leaky faucet. It was leaking internally and dripping down the back side of the sink. Note also the chip.
Here is the shiny new, non-leaky faucet.
And that chip from above? Patched. Sink #1 is done, except for that hole in the wall...
Sink #2
Sink #2 required both faucet replacement and sink replacement, which would also mean partial drain rebuilding. All three sinks sported identical faucets, so there's no need to include photos of old faucets #2 and #3. See old faucet #1, above, if you need a reminder.
Replacing shutoff valves and hoses for sink #2 was straightforward and trouble-free.
Before we get to the sink replacement let's take a look at some of the corrosion on the two replaced old sinks. This is one of the old sinks, and they both had similar levels of corrosion where the faucets had leaked and dripped down the backside for a long time.
This is the new sink #2, installed and caulked. It is porcelain, and not metallic at all, which should prevent the type of corrosion seen above if the new faucets ever leak. And yes, I realize it's not the best caulking job in the world - it might not even be the best I've done myself.
New faucet #2 works and doesn't leak (so far). Remember when I mentioned drain rebuilding, above?
The drains for sinks #2 and #3 had to be partially rebuilt because the new sinks' drains were not in the same position as the old sinks' drains, and the only way to compensate for that was to rebuild, and since there's no way to un-glue PVC, the first step was to get the hacksaw and start hacking away, in a controlled, measured manner, of course.
Before cutting comes measuring, and I measured the pipe at 2 inches in diameter and went to Home Depot and got some 2" pipe and fittings. When I got back to the house, however, I discovered that the 2" pipe was significantly larger than the existing PVC. D'oh! I had measured outside diameter, and I should have measured inside diameter.
Better yet, I should have looked at the fittings themselves to see that they said they were 1 1/2" PVC. Lesson learned, and another trip to Home Depot for the correct parts. This is the completed new drain for sink #2. I was able to reuse some of the existing pieces.
Sink #3
Sink #3 was much like sink #2, and the work was very similar. One big difference was the inlet pipes and the needed shutoff valves.
As you can see, someone, sometime in the past, had converted the inlet pipes to threaded, which meant I could use standard threaded shutoff valves, as seen in the next photo.
These are not Sharkbite brand shutoff valves.
Another difference was what happened when I tried to loosen and remove the old sink.
The metal part of the old drain pipe broke - it sheared in two. That tells me there was likely a lot of corrosion on the inside of the pipe.
The new sink, hoses, and rebuilt drain. Drain #3 required only minor rebuilding.
This photo shows some of the corrosion from sink #3's leaky faucet. Since the formica counter top is non-porous, this was all just surface buildup and was easily cleaned up.
Here you see faucet #3 and sink #3, and the caulking may be slightly better here - hard to tell for sure. As you can see, sinks #2 and #3 have identical faucets, and the sinks are also identical.
Sink #1 Again
Now back to that hole in the wall under sink #1.
No problem. It just needs a little patch and a little spackle.
And a new collar around the inlet pipe. Good as new.
Bonus Image
What could this be? No, it's not a giant hashtag. Stay tuned for more information on this mysterious object.
How many times did I mention Sharkbite? And why did I keep misspelling corossion/corosion/corrosion/corrossion as I was typing this up?
bIsh
