Today is drippy faucet day

There are so many leaks in this house that if it were a boat it would be sunk. Today I am replacing washers and spigots and fixing all leaks. Here’s hoping our $90 water bill cuts in half next month.

Goals

1. Replace spigot in front of house.
2. Replace spigot in back of house.
3. Evaluate leak in kitchen faucet.
4. Fix leak in kitchen faucet.
5. Evaluate leak in upstairs bathtub faucet and determine whether or not to replace the entire mechanism or just the washers.
6. Fix leak in upstairs bathtub by replacing entire mechanism or just the washers.
7. Attach water supply to downstairs sink.

First trip to Home Depot

I’m off to get supplies: 2 outdoor spigots, 1 box of assorted washers(oops forgot), and one 30 meter outdoor hose(didn’t like their hoses).

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Unnecessary Trip #1 – Rocky Hill Hardware

It appears my spigots are sweated on instead of threaded. I am afraid I’m going to break the pipe. If I do that, I’ll have to tear out wall and perhaps brick to make the repair. Instead of using force, I’ll try heating the pipe first and see if it comes off. I can’t find my torch end for my propane bottles so I’m off to the local hardware store. I’ll have to resist the urge to buy the new fangled hotter torches on the market today.

Home Depot Trip #2

Rocky Hill Hardwared morphed into a trip to Home Depot. I hate paying $13 for a tool I own but since I cannot find it that’s what I have to do. I’m also wondering if just trying to replace the washers might now be the route to go.

Trip #2 to Rocky Hill Hardware

Turns out it looks like this repair has been done before. I heated the pipe and removed the sweated copper. Turns out a threaded adapter has been sweated onto the pipe before but its so bonded to the old spigot that I think I would have broken the pipe trying to remove it. This was the correct approach. Now I need to buy a threaded adapter.

Completion Status

After 2 trips to Home Depot and 2 trips to Rocky Hill Hardware, the faucet/spigot on the front of the house has been upgraded and no longer leaks. The weed eater which hasn’t worked for 5 years is functioning and cleared a path to the back of the house to discover a steady stream of water from the back faucet/spigot. That one may have to wait until tomorrow. It looks like a previous DIY’er got creative with concrete. Time to cook dinner.