Have you ever thought, "Wow, that looks so easy, anyone could do it!"? Well, I've been on that side of thinking a few times in my life--- sometimes I get lucky, and it is truly EASY... other times, something simple became a nightmare.
Water EVERYWHERE spewing out under the sink, my daughter and I panicking because it's an older house with no shut-off valves under the sink. There was one valve and we thought it was turned off- but it wasn't! Neither of us know where the main water main is.... water everywhere... throwing towels all over, looking for buckets while I run downstairs trying to find the MAIN water line... and I'm in panic mode, as she's also freaking out... and I see water now dripping in the basement. My little surprise became a plumbing nightmare.
So, the story begins with a simple idea of changing all the hardware in the bathroom. We had freshly painted and wanted to give the bathroom a face-lift and bring it to modern day! It should be super simple. How hard can it be? My husband was away on a business trip (yes, he does this stuff for a living, but we can show him we aren't helpless women... we've got this). SOOOOO..... we decided to suprise him.
We went out shopping and found all the matching wall decor, handles for the vanity, and all the new hardware for the sink and tub. It was so much fun and we talked about how amazing it would look when we surprised him. My daughter decided she wanted to do the tub first. Honestly, it went pretty well. Got the handles changed no real issues. We got the other new pieces installed and the night he was coming home we had finished our touch up painting and decided it was time to tackle the sink. This was the last phase... and it was just in time!
He was going to be SO SUPRISED!
He was going to LOVE IT!
We were going to be SO PROUD of ourselves!
She decided to start tackling it. We realized our house is older and the valves were not super great, but it shouldn't be a problem. I tightened the one valve as tight as I could- so that must mean it's off.
I went downstairs because she was SURE she had it under control.
The next phase of screaming, running, and yelling for towels, buckets and everything we could find sent us both into panic. She was soaked by the time I got upstairs. I then got down in the spraying mess to see if I could turn anything else off. I even shut off the water value to the toilet... just in case... lol... I was in panic mode because nothing was stopping it. It wasn't just spraying down into the bucket it was spraying everywhere. We found buckets, pots and pans, tons of towels. Then squeezed the towel around it, while I tried to go find the shutoff downstairs. Nothing worked. I called everyone I could think of...
I might have even sent panic texts to my husband who was on the airplane coming home. I called his friends, my parents and everyone said there had to be a shut-off downstairs- and I just must not have found it yet. I thought I turned off every possible valve....
AND WHAT SEEMED LIKE 5 hours later I got it turned off.(OK, I might have exaggerated, but it seemed like it, and by this time, water was coming out of the basement ceiling 2 floors down!)
To say this was a DIY fail was an understatement. We got it all slowed down and were managing the leaking, until my husband landed and told me where the real MAIN line was.... yep, I should have figured that out first, before starting the project! I had no idea how complex it would be.
By the time he got home, we had stopped the water but he got to do the repair after all- and CLEAN up our mess (along with our help and LOTS OF LAUNDRY, and fans pointed at the celing, etc). Thankfully he did say the piping wasn't up to code and he understands why it confused us.
OH BOY.... HE WAS SUPRISED!
NOT exactly the type of surprise I was looking for.... but we did it! We surprised him---- with a MAJOR MESS and DIY fail.
NEXT TIME, I will just call APS! (OK, maybe just my hubby since he works there)
No more FUN surprises, I learned my lesson and realized having it done RIGHT is worth SO MUCH! Not to mention the STRESS.
So, next time you're considering that DIY project... think TWICE... and unless you are ready for a MESS and STRESS..... Call APS! You'll be glad you did! Let the PROS handle it! Let my DIY fail and plumbing nightmare save you from doing the same!
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