I feeling to rought last night to blog and tonight I have a fever that is not letting me sleep. So back to the shower. I figured this would be easy. Take the handle off, the other decorative thing and put the shower wrench in and take out the stem. Handle came off, check. Decorative thing. Umm Houston we have a problem. Damn thing won't budge. Vice grips to the rescue. Nope. Ok, 16 inch pipe wrench. Now I would like to think it was my manly muscle that moved this thing but I think the 16 incher had more to do with it. Got it off, then I see why it didn't move. The idiots that rehabed this place before I moved in used contractors adhesive to seal it. Umm you guys ever hear of caulk to seal around this thing? At least they didn't use marine grade adhesive or I never would have got that mother to move. The steam from the shower keep it loose. Minor damage to wall where adhesive was Ok. sit in the wet tub. I wasn't going to shut the main off until I was sure I could get the stem to move. So the water is dripping on me Then I see where they used to caulk. In the hole in the wall where the stem comes through and where I need to put my wrench in. Ok, get the utility knife and the thing they give you at the hardware store to open paint cans. Start cutting and pulling, cutting and pulling. Start talking to no one in particular "shhh be very quite, we are hunting wabbit". More cutting and digging. Get most of the caulk out and FUCK they put that fucking expanding foam behind the caulk. WHY!! Get a awl. Awl, dig, cut, repeat. More talking "Once we get the hole bigger, we can get the wabbit. Well will stick our gun in there and BAM, no more Mr. Wabbit". After a period of two hours I think the hole is cleared enough. I am not feeling good but put that off to the fact I've been sitting in water for most of that time. Get the correct size wrench, shove it on, the stems moves with ease, start to sing "kill the wabbit, KILL THE WABBIT". Well Bugzy had another trick in his hole. Only thing left to do was shut off the main. Go to the front yard and try to turn the main. If there was any question that it was my manly muscle and not a 16 inch pipe wrench, well my bubble burst. One of those things with PVC valves is they freeze up at the moment you need them to work. I shut this off with my fingers last summer. I tried everything I had that would fit in that fucking small box but no luck. Bullwinkle couldn't have got that thing to move. So I get to wait until this weekend to fix the stupid faucet. I need to get an honest to god shutoff wrench. Surely it will be raining. But I will get that wascally wabbit yet.
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