Mission Almost Impossible – Installing Our New Kitchen Faucet
On paper, the removal and installation process is pretty straightforward – simply disconnect the water inlet pipes (after turning off the water of course) and unscrew the lock nut affixing the faucet body to the wash basin. Sounds easy enough. However, a key factor being overlooked in this equation is how much space you have under the sink to access these parts. In the case of our kitchen sink, not only did I have to contend with two drain pipes coming out from our double-basin sink, but there were additional pipes for the drain from the dishwasher, as well as electrical wiring for the garbage disposal found under one of the sinks. Let’s also add to this equation the fact that the pipes and lock nut in question are not only behind all these other pipes, but they’re also behind the wash basins. Yep, this was shaping up to be another grand adventure into The Magical World of Plumbing.
At first, things went along rather smoothly as I was able to disconnect the hot and cold water inlet pipes without any major problems, despite the rather cramped space I had to work in. But now came the final step in removing this old faucet – the unscrewing of the lock nut holding the faucet body to the wash basin. For this part in the job, I opted to use my handy plumber’s wrench as I figured I could just rotate the nut in repeating small turns until I could hand loosen it and take it off. But there simply wasn’t enough room for the wrench to move. No problem, as I simply went for my vice grip wrench to pry this stubborn lock nut off, but even this tool couldn’t get the nut to budge one bit. While this may sound not very promising, there was in fact a bright side to this dilemma – it was obvious that I had to go to the hardware store to buy some more tools for the job. Well, at least that’s how I sold the idea of these new purchases to my wife.
And so after a short trip down to the hardware supply store, I came home proudly displaying my new faucet wrench to my wife as the answer to all our plumbing woes. I hunkered back down under the sink, twisting my body so I could both see where the lock nut was and be able to maneuver my hand with the shiny new wrench. After several tries of trying to get the spring hook to latch on to this lock nut, it finally took hold. I was mere moments away now from giving this wrench a good twist and with it, finally loosen this old faucet’s hold on our wash basin. I tried giving a good twist to the wrench, but it didn’t give. At first, I thought the nut must be rusted. But then I saw it – the simple reason why I couldn’t get the wrench to budge. The perpendicular metal rod at the bottom of the wrench was getting jammed against one of the pipes. There could be no question now – the maze of copper, PVC and rubber pipes under my kitchen sink were clearly conspiring against me.
Of course, I couldn’t let them win this battle, so I pushed myself deeper inside, twisting my head this way while wiggling one arm that way and the other arm another way. And again I’d try to get the wrench to take hold of this nut to finally break free its hold on the basin. But all this contortion act did in the end was cause various muscles to stiffen from the strain as well as raise concerns of how I was going to untie myself out of the mess of pipes and wires. Indeed, I have to admit after spending a good amount of time under that sink, I started feeling pangs of anxiety that I’d suddenly get stuck, forgetting the exact route I took to squeeze myself into this small space, my eyes getting lost in this maze of copper and PVC pipes. I could almost see the headlines in the newspapers the next morning – “Local man gets trapped under sink while installing faucet”. Definitely not my idea of how to earn your 15 minutes of fame. Mind you, I now have a better understanding of those who dread venturing into small crawlspaces. For those suffering from claustrophobia, you can thank my kitchen sink for that Zen moment of understanding.
At this point in the battle, the odds were definitely leaning in favour of the copper/PVC pipes. But I wasn’t about to raise the white flag just yet. Instead, I called up my friend Eric who had just finished renovating his bathroom, hoping he might have a few tricks to get around this mess. After our usual pleasantries, he crawled under the sink, trying to work his way through that tangle of pipes to wrestle with this stubborn nut, but alas to no avail. When he got back on his feet, he looked over at me and said “This is why I hate plumbing” (I wonder if this is why we have to pay plumbers so much – no one likes to do this type of work). He was a bit surprised by the smile gracing my face until I admitted to him that as much as I hoped he’d be able to solve this problem, it was reassuring to see that I wasn’t the only one struggling to get this done. That male bonding moment seemed to have put a little wind into our sail as he dove back in to take another shot at the lock nut that had become our common foe.
As Eric tried using another of his wrenches to pry the lock nut loose, a thought suddenly came to my mind and I asked Eric if he had a reciprocating saw. Almost immediately, the clangs and banging below stopped and he slowly crawled out from under the sink and looked at me with a puzzled look as he replied in the affirmative. Seeing the confusion on his face, I told him what my idea was – since we couldn’t loosen the lock nut, what if we simply cut off the top of the faucet and push the remainder down through the hole? Well, that changed everything and as soon as we started on our new approach to this battle, the faucet didn’t stand a chance. In mere moments, the kitchen floor was littered with rubber washers, screws, the faucet handle and tap, and pieces of the cover plate as we demolished the old faucet in preparation for the final cut. All of the sudden, I felt the remains of the faucet body sink down a little into the hole at which point Eric once again crawled under the sink and reached over to the more accessible faucet to remove the lock nut. With a few quick turns of the wrench, the nut finally gave way. We were now edging closer to winning this fight.
As the top faucet portion was too large to push through the hole in the wash basin, we had to pull the remains of this old faucet out from the top. But as to be expected, a snag appeared just as we were about to call this mission done – the inlet ports for the hot and cold water were simply too large to fit through this hole in the wash basin. Being this close to the finish line, I was not going to be denied my victory. As such, I leaned over to my toolbox and grabbed my hacksaw and sawed off the plastic tubing for the spray gun along with the copper piping leading to one of the inlet ports. After cutting through most of the pipe, I twisted the faucet around and with one quick jerk motion upwards, I pulled the old faucet up into the air, free from the wash basin. The battle was over and man was ultimately triumphant.
Of course, unlike at the Olympics, there were no medals handed out, no raising of the national flag, no cheers from the crowds watching in the stands. And yet, the victory for me at least tasted just as sweet. I suppose that torn-to-pieces faucet that you see gracing the top of this blog entry is my trophy for a battle fought hard and won.
As for the new faucet – it took about 20 minutes to install with no leaks and a nice smooth operation. Guess you can call that the happily ever after ending to this tale of man against PVC/copper pipes.
Some other posts you may enjoy:
As a faucet goes up in price, the more durable, functional and long lasting it should be.
That was exactly our thinking as well, especially since I have no desire to replace this new one any time soon, if not ever.
Of course, the other factor that weighed in for going for the more expensive models is the aesthetics. After all, one of the two rooms potential home buyers are always drawn to is the kitchen and while most of us regard a faucet as being a functional device, it has recently been elevated to being an important element in the overall design and feel of the kitchen environment.
Given the current economic environment, it’s practical business sense to protect your primary investment – your home – by making sure you make changes that will help maintain if not increase its overall value.
It’s also rather reassuring to know that the added expense we paid will ensure I won’t have to worry about this faucet for many, many years.