- Victory over the garbage disposal
- Drip, Drip, Drip
Having fixed the garbage disposal, Dawn in Longmont, Colorado, was feeling pretty invincible. Her shower was leaking and she was sure it couldn’t be that difficult to fix….
“Before I tackled it, I got on the internet and found leaking faucets and they actually had a little video, like a how-to and it walked me through,” said Dawn.
After watching the video a couple of times and taking notes, Dawn was ready. Down to the crawl space to shut off the water she went and then to the shower where she got all the components off except .. “I, could not, for the life of me get the piece off that I needed to do. So I put it all back together.”
Off she went to the hardware store, bought a valve wrench and then back home for attempt #2. Still no luck. At this point Dawn was ready to concede. “I did end up calling the plumber and I was furious.”
The plumber arrived along with his two sons and even though Dawn got the sense they didn’t want her watching – well, it was a little cramped in the bathroom – she stayed and watched.
“It took them literally eight minutes. They did everything I did but the difference was they had a lock wrench they hooked on to this valve stem and they just gave it a little more elbow grease than I did. All they did was replace a tiny little rubber O ring. That’s it. On both the hot water and the cold and they put it all back together. That was $100. I was livid.”
At this point you might be thinking this doesn’t sound like much of an accomplishment. But listen to what Dawn said next.
“OK, that’s fine. I just paid for a $100 training session. Then I went and did the whole thing, bought the O ring, turned off the water, did everything they did and I replaced all that stuff in my other bathroom. At that I thought, it’s just about knowing I can accomplish it.”
I found a helpful how-to and video on repairing leaky faucets at doityourself.com. Maybe Dawn’s got you thinking about a home repair that’s been waiting to be done? Is there a resource you’ve found especially helpful for your home projects? I’m thinking maybe, just maybe I could replace all those brass-colored faucets in my bathrooms … hhhmm.
Fun reading your blog, Mandy! There are some good tips in here that had never occurred to me–watch what the guy does and then you never need to pay that high fee again. This is especially useful in these times when every service call means a broken budget–
I’m divorced, and I also have a leaky faucet! Mine’s in the kitchen. It’s gotten bad enough that it sometime squirts water onto the counter behind the sink.
My husband wasn’t much more handy than I am (i.e., not very). So not sure I can blame divorce on the fact that I haven’t fixed the faucet. The topic of my blog gives you a clue; it’s on life with ADD (at http://headintheclouds.typepad.com). I did get as far as asking for advice on how to fix the leak at the local hardware store. Then didn’t follow through.
But thanks for your post! I’m inspired to get the job done. And the video is really helpful.
My first husband practically called an electrician to change a lightbulb. When I was married to him, I was by far the handier one, and the well-illustrated ‘Reader’s Digest Guide to Home Repairs’ was my bible. That was before the Internet and all those “For Dummies…” books that teach the basics of many skills and subjects. My husband of 15 years can do EVERYTHING so I don’t need even to try. He loves to tackle plumbing, masonry, sheetrocking, tile work, electrical, carpentry and fixing the myriad small things that go wrong in a 100+-year-old house — and he’s an engineer, so he thinks everything out and does the projects well. I don’t need to bother anymore, but I am confident that I too could again handle the small repairs and minor projects if I had to.
Mandy,
I have been where Dawn is and know that feeling of victory when you learn how to do some mechanical thing for yourself! In fact, I recall when I first learned how to use a drill and what I used it on–and that was decades ago. I remember it because the men in my life had always mystified its use. I quickly discovered there was nothing I didn’t already have that was needed to learn how to use it: no secret handshake, no ability to spit, no height or weight requirement.
Later, when I divorced, I learned to do a few more mechanical things (though I am still not mechanically inclined, these many years later).
I also learned something else that served me as well as learning how to do a few mechanical things. I learned how to ask for help. I was loathe to ask for help, considered myself an independent sort of human being, and didn’t like the idea of inconveniencing anyone. But sometimes I didn’t have the strenght needed. Other times I didn’t have the skills needed, nor the time or inclination to gain them. One can always hire someone, but there is something as empowering about learning how to ask for help as there is learning how to do it yourself. Both are needed by good women.
Melanie
I love this blog! Although I’ve remarried after my divorce, I still do most of the home maintenance tasks that I was forced to learn while single. There’s a great sense of empowerment when we learn a foreign, “manly” skill–like using a power drill or fixing a dripping faucet. Treating a plumber’s expensive visit as a training session demonstrates just the right attitude to survive as a divorced woman!
Carol Grever
What a great story. I am not divorced, but until this last month I was a single girl living on my own. I was very proud of all the things I learned to do on my own. The best is when you know more about a mechanical situation than the men that you are around–you would be surprised by how often this will happen once you know a little bit.
Big helpers in my learning, which mostly took place before the internet was the amazing tool it is now, have been friends and the people at the hardware store. It is key to find a hardware store where you feel comfortable asking questions. If someone is condescending or mean–I go elsewhere next time. Take notice hardware stores, women everywhere are ready to give you their business, if you will only welcome them!!!
Rock on Dawn!
[...] Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 | Author: Mandy When Melanie left this comment on the Drip Drip Drip posting about what she learned after her divorce, I knew I had to talk to [...]