Dripping faucet.

I spent a few hours today repairing a dripping faucet.  It wasn’t really just dripping, it was running – a steady stream of water which means our next water bill is going to be a bit (OK, maybe a lot) higher than usual.  The youtube video I referenced indicated that it would only take 30 minutes to fix this problem which was a complete lie.  The video taught me that I needed a special faucet cartridge puller-outer which I got yesterday on my first trip to Home Depot ($12).

I took everything apart and found out that there was a little pin that needed to be taken out vertically (it’s the brass thing-y rising out of the top of the cartridge).  So I had to chip away at the tile above the brass thing-y without breaking anything.

I decided to chisel out the tile with my brand new chisel which I procured on my second trip to Home Depot ($7).  I had a good time on this second trip because I explained my problem to two guys (employees) in the tile aisle and asked if they thought I should buy a tile chipper ($13) or if I should buy a tile scorer ($11) and then hammer out the scored tile.  I think they were entertained that I could actually talk plumbing/tiling with them.  Anyways, they said I should just take a hammer and chisel to make the hole bigger.  I told them I was worried I would shatter the tile into a bazillion pieces and then have to replace the whole wall.  They both shrugged their shoulders and said – that might happen, we’d give it a 50/50 chance.

While I was chipping away at the tile, I managed to hurt myself without realizing it and soon my work area was covered in tile dust and blood.

I finally pulled the cartridge out so I could see which one of the 10,000 cartridges at Home Depot I needed to buy (3rd trip, $39).  I did run into the same two employees on my third trip and they asked me if their idea had worked and I triumphantly held up the broken cartridge as evidence.  High fives all around.