"Hon, The Water Won't Turn Off!"

This is what Jon said to me last week. He got a some water from the kitchen faucet and when he went to lower the handle to turn it off, it wouldn't turn off. Of course this is at 8:00 at night and we were both tired from a long day. Time for problem solving mode....

First I turned off the water shut-offs under the kitchen sink... one of which started leaking.
Great.
Thank goodness Lowes stays open until 9:00. I dash off to Lowes to get a new faucet confident that Jon and I can figure this out.


After I get home with the new faucet, Jon and I watch a youtube video on how to replace a faucet. Okay, we can do this.


I look under the sink and realize that our connections don't look like the ones in the video. Great. I try to figure out how the faucet is connected to the sink. I send a picture to Mark and Mom hoping they are familiar with this strange connection.

Mark must have heard the frustration and desperation in my voice because he put on his super hero cape and drove the 30 minutes to come help us out... at 9pm. Did you know superheroes travel with their Super Tool Bucket? It's true. Mark was able to figure out how to get the old faucet off after some work.

Old faucet off. Oh no. The new faucet I bought is the wrong kind. Walmart is the only store open so I drive to Walmart really quick and pick out a functioning but not pretty faucet. Rush home. Mark tries to install it but because it was a different style, the water hoses wouldn't reach. Great.

I assure Mark that I can handle putting in the new faucet the next morning when I can go to Lowes and get the right faucet. I send the super hero home.

The next morning, the kids and I return two faucets and buy the right faucet that is a big improvement over the cheapo Walmart one I had picked out the night before. We picked out the correct water hoses and came home to tackle the job. Great! (no sarcasm this time)

Charlotte was my assistant and held the faucet and sprayer still while I tightened them from below.

I feel really sorry for plumbers. It's really uncomfortable working under a sink.

For all the trouble it was getting to that point, installing the new faucet was really simple and only took about 20 minutes.

Nothing fancy but it works beautifully and only cost us $58 including the new water hoses!

Thanks Mark for the help!

So, now I know how to repair a toilet and replace a faucet. I think I might be on my way to earning a tool belt... or at least a scout badge of some sort. Do they give badges to 32 year old women? They should.