Ever since we moved into our house in 2001 and we’ve had problems with the shower in the basement. You see it drips – a lot!
My husband has changed the shower head and that didn’t stop the dripping. He also tried a few other things to fix the shower and still it dripped. So, since he’s the main one in the house that uses the shower he started turning off the water supply for the shower after he has a shower. For a long time that seemed to stop the constant dripping as the water supply to the shower was only on when the shower was being used. However, recently the shower started dripping again even when the water supply was shut off on the pipes outside the bathroom.
I rarely use the bathroom in the basement, but I was down there last Friday and I realized that the constant dripping of the shower head was making a very moist environment. In fact, the shower appeared to have some mold in it. So when my husband came home from work that evening I told him we had to try to do something about the shower’s constant drip.
So on Saturday my husband got busy trying to fix the shower. First he took care of the possible mold problem by washing down the shower walls with a bleach and water solution (several times). Then he tried to take the hot and cold water faucets off the shower. Maybe we just needed to put a washer inside?
Now I have to tell you that while I wanted him to fix the shower I wanted him to do so without having to spend any money on it. Our funds are very low these days and we just can’t afford to get new Moen faucets for the shower right now. Not if we can help it!
Of course things went wrong. He got one of the shower faucets if no problem, added a washer (as suggested by one of the guys at Home Depot) and that stopped the dripping for the cold water. However he had a lot of trouble getting the hot water faucet off and when he did he couldn’t get the two pieces apart to add a washer.
He decided to take the part to Home Depot to see if he could find an inexpensive replacement. I think they laughed at him! The part is apparently about 25 years old and not easy to replace. Even a specialty plumbing store didn’t help!
I started to think this was going to turn out like our kitchen tap story! Remember a few months ago I posted about how Chris was trying to take the Brita filter off our kitchen tap and ended up breaking the end … causing us to have to buy a whole new set of kitchen faucets? Yeah that was fun!
In the end we didn’t have to spend any money on new faucets or smaller replacement parts. Instead we took one of the plumbing specialists suggestions and soaked the faucet part in vinegar for several hours to remove some of the corrosion on the fixture. Then, yesterday evening, my husband used two wrenches to carefully pry to pieces apart. He added a washer, put the parts together again and installed the faucet in the shower where it had been before and ta da! It seems to have worked. No drip, drip, drip!
I really have to be careful when I ask my husband to do home repairs! It seems to always cost us more money and or frustration than we think it will!
At least the water bill should be a little bit lower now. I’m sure all that dripping was wasting a lot of water. Plus, now that the shower area won’t have a constant supply of moisture the room and shower stall should hopefully be mold and mildew free. I hope!
Have you ever tried to do what seems like it should be a small home repair only to end up spending way more time and money than you ever thought you would to fix the problem?
We’ve been putting off fixing our toilet. When you flush it at the min, it doesn’t stop! You have to run some water else where to stop it! Will get it fixed soon – hopefully quicker than you getting your shower fixed!!
If I were in your place, I would surely hire a professional even if it costs me my whole week budget after a few attempts. I commend you two for having such a admirable patient. Just imagining what happened to both of you makes me feel frustrated as if I were the one whose fixing the faucet.
Be real careful about stuff with water and home improvement! I have seen some stuff turn out with a lot of problems!
Hi Tricia,
I am glad that you have finally fixed your shower. I think with these things you have just got to keep going with the thought that you are going to fix it no matter what. I think that is the difference between men and women… determination! Men just do it with force and women think about it first.
Thanks again for a great post
All the best
Charles
Congratulations, glad it turned out alright for you. AM much of a DIY fan so much so that I’ve taught people how to fix their plumbing themselves. Even if that means I’d be out of one or two jobs.
But there are just some jobs that you need to leave for the professionals 🙂