Utility Sink

The finished product.

A couple of years ago my dad bought me a utility sink for my birthday. This year as my birthday approaches, we finally got around to installing it.

Attaching the faucet to the tub.

It isn't large, but I needed a sink that I could use for messy projects like washing the dog or dying clothes. And it will be perfect for that. I can also temporarily hook up a hose to the faucet to water the plants in my front yard so I won't need to drag the hose from the backyard around the house.

It was fairly easy to install since the old washing machine hookups were still in the garage. When the previous owner moved the laundry room inside they just capped off the pipes. So we turned off the water and then cut off the caps.

The tricky part was making sure we had the right pieces before cutting off the pipe caps since we couldn't turn the water back on until the project was done. Dad actually ended up making two trips to the hardware store since we forgot something on our first trip. But he actually returned some of the things we got on trip #1 in favor of a different option.

The pipes after we cut off the caps and
before we attached the new connections.

Once the pipe caps were removed we used a plumbing sealant to attach the new fixtures. These had faucet shut offs so I can turn off the water at the wall if needed. The sealant needed to dry for two hours before the water could be turned back on, but meanwhile we finished connecting the plumbing and sink drain to the basin.

Attaching the new connections!

We also bought a drain cover for the garage drain, something that's been on my to do list for a while.

We still need to anchor the sink to the floor since the ground isn't even near the drain, but overall I think the project went very smoothly and I'm excited to have one more thing checked off my to-do list!

Hot Water Dilemma

When I came home from work earlier this month I was enjoying the much warmer weather and grateful the ice had mostly melted off the roads. When my garage door opened though I found a small flood of water covering the garage floor. There was a leak from the corner where my hot water tank is that was squirting water across the garage.

My first two thoughts were that it must have been leaking for a while, and I really didn't want to spend my Christmas money on a new hot water tank.

Of course, it was already after 6:00 and since half of Tulsa was having similar problems I couldn't get a plumber that night. The best I could manage was to shut off my water completely and try to get someone out the following day. 

So much for my relaxing evening plans (which included a hot bath and early bedtime). 

Ollie and I went to my dad's since I didn't relish the idea of doing without water all evening. Luckily I was able to find someone who could take a quick look at the leak the next morning to diagnose the problem and get the ball rolling on fixing it. 

That's when I got really, really lucky. 

Mike Ridenour came out and could tell immediately the problem wasn't the tank. I was viewing that news with tentative optimism. I wouldn't need to spend $300 on a new tank, but would the real problem be even worse?

At that point I was having horrifying images of having to rip up my yard or something to find the leak.

It turns out that under the pedestal my hot water tank sits on there used to be a pump to pump water around the house. When the pump was removed the pipe connected to it was capped off. With the negative temperatures we had the capped pipe froze and cracked. Once our weather warmed up a bit the pipe started spewing the built up water across the garage due to the high pressure. 

Ignore the mess, the newly capped pipe is on the right.

All Mike had to do was remove the cracked section of pipe and recap the pipe further down. The entire visit took 10 minutes and cost me $25.

How's that for luck?

I couldn't believe that I managed to get away that easily, really that was something I might have been able to fix myself with the right tools (and knowing what the problem was, of course).

The hole isn't large, but
I'll need to watch for mold.

I'm still going to need to keep an eye on the drywall around the hot water tank.

Since the leak lasted long enough to melt a small hole in the drywall, I'm anticipating mold. I might get lucky and not have a problem. Even if I do it is in the garage so shouldn't be a huge issue, but as you can see, trying to replace that section of drywall won't be a walk in the park since I would need to create holes for the drain and dryer vent (although the dryer is inside now so this vent isn't actually used).

Has anyone else had lucky run-ins with plumbing problems? Or horror stories that still make you cringe?

A Chilly Breeze

You may remember a while back when I had Mullin Plumbing out to repair the faucet handles in my tub. In order to do the work the plumber had to remove the panel accessing the pipes to the tub. Since removing the panel messed up the paint job around the edges I told him not to replace the panel since I wanted to touch up the paint first.

Of course, that was when the weather was warm.

Getting the insulation ready to put in.

Weeks later I still hadn't found the time to fix the panel and I started noticing a chilly breeze in the restroom. Replacing the panel quickly became a priority. That's also around the time that I remembered to check the vents to my crawl space. Every single one was open. Oops. Once I closed all the vents the chill in my bathroom was noticeably less, but I still needed to get the panel in place so I could stop heating my crawl space.

I borrowed my dad's drill and some extra insulation he had so that even once the panel was back in place the breeze wouldn't get in. I cut a section of the insulation, fitted it into the opening (paper side out) and put the panel in place. The tricky part was that the frame didn't offer much for the screws to grab hold to and the insulation was thick enough that trying to hold the panel in place until the screws were in place was frustrating. It also didn't help that the panel is so close to the toilet that I couldn't use the drill for the screws on the left. I had to track down my screwdriver.

It always amazes me how a project you put off for ages can take less than 10 minutes once you take the time to get started.

The job all finished!

I Should Have Been a Plumber...

Old faucet, leaking even after turning it off.

You know what sucks? Unexpected problems like a leak in the water line or a drip in one of my faucets.

A couple weeks ago I finished watering my plants and turned off the outdoor faucet. When I went inside I could still hear the sound of water running, for some reason the spigot was still running even after I tightened the handle all the way.

The old spigot after removal.

Dad came over to take a look and we decided that we didn't need to hire a plumber. Dad bought a replacement spigot, turned off the water at the meter (super easy to do I discovered) and removed the old spigot. That's when we ran into some issues.

For starters, the spigot Dad bought initially turned out to be the wrong size. After a second trip to Lowe's we started trying to screw the second faucet in. This time it was the right size, but the pipe that the spigot attached into wasn't cooperating for us to screw in the new spigot. So luckily I have an amazing dad who actually crawled under my house the attach the new spigot.

My lovely new spigot.

Of course, the problems with the outdoor spigot haven't been the only issues I've had. I'm seriously unimpressed with the plumbing work done by the man who "flipped" my house before selling it to me.

Personal reminder not to run water in that side of the sink.

I've had previous problems with low water pressure (which might have been a result of a leak in the water main that the city was working on), gross brown water from the faucets, the tub faucet handles broke off when I had guests, the bathroom and kitchen sinks both began leaking from the drainage pipe and the most recent plumbing disaster: the replacement of the kitchen drain.

The kitchen sink had a slow leak that didn't worry me overmuch. I just set a container under the leak and emptied it as needed. The other night, however, I finished washing some dishes and suddenly noticed a flood coming from the cabinets under the sink. When I opened them to check I noticed that the connection from the drain to the pipes was unscrewed. How it became unscrewed is a mystery.

I tried to screw it back into place, but the threading wouldn't catch. Dad came to take a look and ended up removing the whole drain to take to buy replacement parts. So I covered that side of my sink with plastic wrap so I wouldn't accidentally splash water from the side that worked. And I made it work for about a week.

The next weekend Dad brought the new drain and other plumbing supplies over and we got to work.

Plumber's Putty

Before we were able to put in the new drain we had to make sure the hole in the sink had a proper seal so the water wouldn't seep out around the drain. For that you use plumber's putty (which just looks nasty). We created a ring with the putty and fit it into place around the hole in the sink. The next step was to put the drain in place, which caused the putty to squeeze out around the edges.

Once the drain was in place we started fitting it to the pipes underneath the sink. I held the drain in place while Dad worked on getting everything connected. Having someone hold the drain is definitely helpful (if not necessary), before I started holding it down the drain would lift up every time Dad began screwing it to the pipes. Makes the job much more frustrating.

After everything was screwed into place we wiped away the excess putty and let it sit overnight for the putty to dry. I tested it the next morning for leaks and everything seemed to work great!

I guess having three or four plumbing emergencies in three years isn't too bad. I'd rather not have any of course, but at least my dad knows enough about plumbing to be able to help me instead of me having to pay a plumber every time there's a problem.

Based on your experiences, what is a typical number of plumbing problems to have in a year?

Use One Finger...Please!

You know what sucks? Unexpected problems like a leak or a broken faucet. I've dealt with both lately. A sink in my bathroom is leaking--luckily only the used water so I'm not paying for wasted water. The faucet handles in my tub were a bigger problem.


For over a year I managed to use my tub without any problem. Within six months I had two different visitors who each broke one of the handles completely off, I was left with two little stubs that required a complicated process involving a washcloth or wrench to grasp the nubs to turn on the water and then adjusting the temperature. Yikes!


When I saw a Living Social coupon for Mullin Plumbing I snapped it up. I had heard good things about Mullin so I wasn't worried about shoddy service or being put off indefinitely.

Turns out it was a great deal, $65 for $150 worth of services. I ended up paying about $95 after the coupon.

Initially I bought a new faucet, which was no small chore. Finding faucets that are the right style for my tub is exceptionally difficult. Most faucets either fit on the edge of the tub, have one central handle or have a third handle for the shower. I did find one, but in the process I discovered my faucet style must be extremely outdated. And faucets are very expensive.

However, when the plumber started looking at the project he suggested just repairing the old faucet handles. That turned out to be the better option since apparently the faucet I purchased, while the right style, would have meant replacing most of the pipes. There are so many factors you have to consider when shopping for electric or plumbing equipment!

Tub faucet, once it was repaired.

The plumber suggested telling company that the faucet handles only need one finger to adjust the flow. So if you ever happen to be showering at my house, please use just ONE FINGER!

Have you ever had a plumbing disaster? Run into roadblocks while redecorating or repairing something? Tell me your stories!