Playing Plumber During the Holidays

During the holidays I was forced to play plumber at home with two leaks in our bath room. The first, caused by a broken faucet and the second, a broken fill valve. Their was actually another leak in one of our kitchen sinks but I decided to just deal with the ones in our bath room first.

I worked on the broken fill valve first. I went to the hardware and bought a new fill valve, two new tank bolts, PVC pipe glue and the rubber placed between the tank and the seat. The tools I used were common tools – a flat-head screw driver, pliers, an adjustable wrench and a small improvised brush. After three attempts I was able to stop the leak under the toilet tank.
The next one I replaced was the faucet on our lavatory. This was easier because I only made one attempt at it and I experienced immediate success.

It felt good being able to do this instead of hiring other people to do it. It not only saved us money but it also helped me learn how to deal with those things so next time it happens, I already know what to do.