Print Blog
Email a Friend“Why didn’t they need a hacksaw in the youtube video”—LOL! Disastrous? Hmmm… since I’m not that brave, it’s not that disastrous. I think I was painting the front door while the boys played in the yard (so I thought). They came up behind me in stealth mode stuck their hands in the paint and made handprints all over the front stoop. I’ve never painted with them awake since…
Tales from the DIY Diary: Part 2
How many people does it take to unscrew a water hose?
Posted by Robyn Lee in Family on Monday, August 16, 2010 5:00 PM
Go read part one from my DIY (do it yourself) diary about installing a new faucet. I quickly learned that this DIY monster project was too fierce to tackle by myself and I needed help. With the Queen of DIY (my mom) and a couple of nephews in tow, we were ready to tackle step two.
Step two: remove the hoses from the faucet.
The hot water hose came off no problem. Sweet! Just like the video. This won’t be as hard as step one.
I couldn’t twist off the cold water hose, so I had to climb under the sink and use an adjustable wrench thingy. I noticed in the YouTube video the plumber lies down under the sink to reach the bolt (and Mr. Plumber has some fancy tool to easily reach the tight places), but when I lie down my arms are too short to reach the bolt.
I cram myself under the sink (with all the goop and bugs) and since I don’t have that fancy tool I can only move the wrench a quarter turn before I have to readjust it again.
Turn, readjust, turn readjust, … man I am out of shape … turn, readjust, turn readjust, turn, readjust, turn, readjust … I’ve been doing this forever and my arm is killing me!
“Mom, I don’t think this is working!”
Heard outside the sink area: “maybe the bolt is stripped. We may have to cut it off.”
Why didn’t they need a hacksaw in the YouTube video?
Luckily the bolt was plastic and not metal. After sawing back and forth a couple of times (with only making a scratch) I realized I wasn’t strong enough to be handling the hacksaw.
My nephew Kian tried for a little while, my sister Alison came over to take a look too.
It was a two person job, at first. Someone would hold the flashlight while the other person tried to saw the plastic. As soon as the hacksaw user was tired, we would switch.
Finally, we called in my nephew Joseph. Being left-handed and having a better angle he had it off in no time.
When the faucet came loose we were all ecstatic.
“Woo! It came off!”
You’d think we won a million dollars with the celebratory hoots and high fives. We even took a picture with everyone touching the stubborn faucet. (I think my mom looks the most excited.)
Step two (taking five people … and a hacksaw) finished. Time in YouTube video: 2 minutes. Time in real life: 2 hours.
Stick around for step three and the final tale from the DIY diary, but first I want to hear more from your DIY diary.
What was your most disastrous DIY project?
Comments
Page 1 of 1 pages
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
