2014.12.26 Plumbing
Plumbing, as a concept, has been around for thousands of years. Which is to say, not even slightly surprising technology. And yet, my wife declaring me a master technician for repairing a leaky shower faucet does not feel wholly inappropriate. It was actually kind of difficult.
The first hurdle was finding time to do it. Not just the usual we're-always-busy kind of time management aspect, but also parsing out the potential span of time for catastrophic contingencies. As anyone who has worked on unfamiliar 50-odd-year-old plumbing, things can go pear-shaped in a hurry. Instead of just needing to replace some washers and seats, the whole valve could be disintegrating - requiring some sledgehammer time. All time without water to the whole house.
So today, armed with my usual tools and an array of various washers, I turned off the water to the house and started the valve disassembly. And quickly realized that none of my long sockets would fit on the valve housing. So I ran a quick errand to the local hardware store, where I grabbed the appropriate-sized socket and a seat wrench for good measure. Don't know what a seat wrench is? Neither did I, but the wise old staffer helping me just handed it to me and said I'd probably need it. I did.
The reason for needing the very-specifically-sized long socket (31/32nds-inch) was because the valve was housed entirely inside the wall of the shower. And it could only be accessed through a barely-large-enough hole in the tile. So no cheating with monkey wrenches for this job. One bruised/bleeding knuckle later, I got the valve apart. And, while I held my breath, managed to not drop it on its transit out the tiny hole. Because dropping it down inside the wall would have been... awkward.
Likewise, the seat was a bit munged up and needed removal. And it was even more easy to drop down the insides of the wall, which I managed to avoid through a combination of luck and telekinesis. Neither of which I believe in.
The seat just needed a wee bit of filing to make it uniform again and able to seal against a washer properly. The washer was, well, completely toast. As the old washer was eaten up by the seat, I would apply what the wife refers to as "gorilla grip" to make the flow stop. Eventually, we ran out of washer. Luckily, I had a perfectly-sized replacement to install.
Re-assembly of the valve was super easy. Re-installation of the seat and valve was just as tricky as the removal. Seriously, you try threading a little brass seat you have balanced precariously on the tip of a tool through a tiny dark hole.
It's a relief to be done that job, silly as it may seem to real plumbers.