Unexpected Surprises

The first “big surprise” came when the vanity in the master bath was scheduled for removal. In an interesting turn of events, there were no water cut-offs under the sink. The faucet was piped directly into the supply lines. This meant that water to the entire house had to be turned off while the vanity was removed.

No problem, though – we’ve all taken shortcuts before, so the original builders can hardly be faulted for this. Besides, I had caps to go on the pipes (to keep the water in once the sink was removed) for just such an emergency.

Except that after the sink was out and I went to put the cap on, the pipe sticking from the wall BROKE OFF IN MY HAND.

There are times that my vocabulary is simply insufficient to express the appropriate sentiment of the situation. I gave it my best shot, though.

Hell, in a similar circumstance, Mother Theresa would have said inappropriate things, I feel certain.

This meant that I had to pull out my superior pipe-sweating skills to solder a cap on the pipe and keep the water in.

Except that I didn’t anticipate this, so I didn’t have one of those little copper caps.

And the blowtorch – used primarily for browning crème brulee – was somewhere in the debris field that used to be a formal dining room. Wondering what to do, I went back to a fundamental rule of home ownership.

Specifically, every project is the opportunity to acquire new tools.

Lowe’s Home Improvement sells a nifty little torch kit – solder, flux, the whole works – for about $20.00.

Mom would have spent more than that on the soap she washed my mouth out with, had she been there. It was a bargain at twice the price.

So our little misadventure became a learning opportunity as we got to do hands-on pipe cutting and soldering in a situation where it really mattered – if the leak wasn’t stopped, the water wasn’t coming back on.

So we fixed it and moved on.

Oh, and I am convinced that the pic has been photoshopped – my “thin spot” on top is NOT that thin!