Faucets

Faucets

Oh! Cool and swoopy. And touchless! And I really didn't need all of that. All I wanted was a faucet that didn't spray the kitchen with water. And I wanted to find, fix, repair, replace, or create a faucet outside. It has been an interesting few days defined by plumbers.

My apologies to my DIY friends, but I prefer to use professionals for things that flow, like water and electricity. If something goes wrong and the flow can't be stopped, there's a potential for a lot of damage. (Hmm. Just realized, the water and the power can deal with the same dam. That's a lot of water and a lot of power flowing through increasingly small pipes and tinier wires.)

In the kitchen

My tiny house is newer than my previous cottage. (2006 versus 1964) I doubt the plumbing in the cottage was original, but it had aged. The kitchen faucet in the tiny house was a significant upgrade, at least to me. There wasn't anything fancy about it, but the hose was part of the faucet. Nothing new, but newer than what I had lived with for over a decade. Swing it around. The hose was handy. The little counter space gained wasn't large, but it was appreciated.

Unfortunately, the faucet had a problem with 'up'. Some time in its history, something bumped it. The faucet itself didn't leak, but the curved section was a separate piece. A separate piece meant there was a connection that was probably filled by something like a gasket or washer. If everything was lined up, the water flowed through the faucet. Nice. Normal. Expected. If that upper piece was bumped, turning on the faucet shoved that water past that piece into a conical fountain that rinsed the kitchen and whoever was at the sink, e.g. me. Not nice. It needed to be fixed.

Call forth a plumber!

Wow! One can actually come by? I'm so practiced at waiting months in my old neighborhood that this was a treat. They came by, looked at the situation, and made the familiar modern proclamation: it would be easier and cheaper to replace the entire unit than to repair it. More almost usable material headed to the landfill. I didn't like that, but if one thing was broken, were other things broken? Go for it. They could get the work done in a few days. They had a faucet. I could go by one. Which would I prefer? The one they had was like the old one. Why burn more gas driving around for parts off the shelf when it was already in the truck? Go for it. Install it.

It is the nature of a tiny house that everything is nearby, including a contractor. I was working. They were working. (An apprentice was helping.) I dropped back into big Boeing office mode, where the only way to ignore the other 300 engineers in the room was to mentally mute them. The three of us were within twelve feet of each other for over an hour. I was the most comfortable. They were contortionists by requirements. I overheard one phrase that registered in my auditory buffer, but it didn't make its way into my more conscious mind for about twenty minutes. "Where do we mount the batteries?" Batteries?

Finally, I turned around and asked about the need for batteries. The faucet I saw was like the old one in that it was operated by a single lever, and the hose was integrated into the faucet. It was, however, cooler, swoopier, more ornate and majestic than necessary, but it looked like it matched, so that was alright. Fashion usually enters my life by accident. I think the universe realizes it's the only way to make it past my pragmatism filters. The batteries were for the touchless function. Not only was it fancier looking, it was fancier in its operation. Got greasy hands? No need to touch the faucet. Wave at the sensor and get water. Neat. OK. An upgrade. Maybe I'm also supposed to practice getting good news.

They finished up. Collected their tools. Then, they pointed out how it worked specifically. It could be touchless, but it could also be manual, normal, as a backup. As an ex-engineer, I appreciate backups. The twist was and is that the switch is under the sink, back by the faucet assembly. Huh? I'm not going to become a contortionist every time I want the touchless feature, and I'm not going to trust its operation until I get familiar with its normal features. Switch it to manual. They both looked at me in surprise.

A few minutes later, I looked at them in surprise. I expected a new faucet with new features to cost more and inflation to adjust it higher. I did not expect the replacement of a ~$150 faucet to cost ~$620. At that price, fix the old one!

But. I thought back on the possible misunderstandings. The biggest one was that 'like' was not 'exactly like'. My mistake. I didn't get an estimate. My mistake. I was too courteous and too work-focused that I didn't interrupt their work by managing it more tightly. They are professionals, (or soon to be) that I trusted them. In the end, it all works fine. The faucet has more features that I can explore later. And the cost of a repair and cleanup from a leak would be greater than the price differential from what I expected to pay and what I did pay.

Now, let's go outside. There should be a faucet there, too. Right?

Where's the outdoor faucet? The landscaping is expert, or at least advanced amateur. They must have had an outdoor faucet. Where is it? I poked around the crawlspace coverings. I got out the flashlight, looking behind decks and sheds. I called the realtor. I called the manufacturer, who said that each house is custom, so there is no default site to check first.

I commiserated. And then I remembered. The kitchen faucet was damaged - damaged as if it was hit by a large, heavy item, like a bucket of water. Did the previous owner water the garden by hauling buckets from the kitchen? It could happen.

Unsolicited, but not really, the park manager visited because the realtor passed along a text from the realtor with the question I asked. Electronic media can be fast, but people live lives at a slower speed and deal with other challenges along the way. The spare white and blue pipe sticking out of the side of the house at ground level led to the closed-off remains of the faucet assembly. Follow that, find the original equipment, install a new faucet, and be done. And he knows a plumber.

And this plumber was available, too. My checkbook is still feeling the shock of the previous plumber, but is buffered by the proceeds from the sale of my previous house. OK. Go for it.

One advantage of hiring someone who has worked on similar structures is watching them efficiently get access to the right site in the shortest time. The panels that surround the undercarriage seem fragile. Until I found a supplier for replacements, I didn't want to damage the ones in place. Raccoons may disagree with my choice. Pop the panel's flashing, slide the panel up not to the side as I tried, and there everything was.

Evidently, the original plumbing froze and broke. The fix involved that white and blue pipe poking out at nearly ground level, not exactly at bucket height, but that was it. The plumber pulled off that work, installed better plumbing (as is expected from a plumber), and put everything back together with enough height for a bucket and not much bending required.

Ah, but that's kind of cramped considering the exposed plumbing, the shortness of the faucet, and maybe with a twist as a hose it will be much more functional. And, I'm glad to hear that the previous owner didn't have to lug around that much water.

I am not a plumber. (#massiveunderstatment) I appreciate professional work. The extra price can hurt, but the greater hurt can be from failures. Costlier in the short term. Cost-savings in the long-term. Ultimately, gaining those skills personally can be best because, with sufficient skills, there are fewer opportunities for misunderstandings. It is also an advantage that owner-built places have. They can test the systems as they train themselves. They are much better at knowing where everything is; they are already on-site; and create something that reflects them. Sometimes personal is preferred over professional, as long as that person is professional enough. That isn’t me.

Hopefully, I won't need a plumber for anything more than hooking up a hoped-for washer/dryer. That will be another story and a much bigger check. In the meantime, I plan to install a water barrel off one of the downspouts. That, I can handle; I think.