I have recently moved to a new home, and the Kitchen Faucet started dripping. My dad is an ardent do-it-yourself guy who fixed the kitchen tabletop in our last house to save cost on installation charges. I am the opposite of him, who would hire a handyman to drill a hole in the wall. This time around, I wanted to DIY to fix the faucet and save a couple of dollars on hiring someone to fix it.
Make measurements.
I saw a youtube video to fix the leak but it made the leak worse the faucet started dripping more. I decided to change the faucet to a newer one as it’s pretty challenging to fix the old one due to its complex design. I made a trip to Jalan Besar to get a new faucet only to be disappointed by the saleswoman who told me that there are two types of faucets, one that can get you both hot and cold water and another one with only cold water. The size of the hole in the tabletop varies depending on the above types. The manufactures somehow agreed to standardize the hole among the same type of faucets. I could have saved this trip if I made measurements and did a bit of research online.
Check your tools box.
I decided to buy this Italian brand called Savil for $75 and the Pipe Wrench for $10. The shop didn’t sell the rod to use with the wrench. I found a dedicated tool shop to find the rod for $7. When going through the tools back home, I realized my dad already had the small pipe wrench in the toolbox So I wasted $10 on the pipe wrench. There was no space between the faucet and basin to turn the small pipe wrench together with the rod. So I was in need to get a long pipe wrench
Get the right tools at the right place.
I bought the long pipe wrench for $10 and noticed the small one I purchased earlier from the faucet shop was only $4.50 here. I paid for a tool that I didn’t use and bought three other tools because I thought Its cheap. I total, I have spent $47 on tools thus far.
Use the correct bolt.
I tried to fix the new faucet but couldn’t as there was not enough space to put the bolt below the tap as the wooden cabinet was blocking. So I decided to use the bolt from the old faucet to get it done.
The Next day, I noticed a big patch of water on the tabletop, apparently, the water was leaking from the faucet. I rang up my dad to ask the reason; he told me sometimes the Faucets leak even if it’s new due to manufacturing defects, and I should get it replaced soon. I spend another half an hour finding my misplaced receipt. As I was removing the Faucet I noticed it was not tight enough because of a mismatch in nuts and there was too much pressure from the water making it leak. Now I have to cut off the wood from the cabinet that was blocking the and use the correct bolt. Again I used the wrong tool the drilling machine to cut off the cabinet wood that was blocking. When I was about to finish up I hurt myself with the drill bit as it was hanging around near my feet and made a small wound.
Anyhow in the end I managed to fix the faucet after spending enormous amount of time for which I would have gotten a plumber for $50 who would have done everything nicely at one go Was this DIY Experiment worth my time, effort, money, and blood? Yes, My son was so excited to see me fixing the faucet and I am pretty sure he learned something out of it.