Plumbing and I don’t mix. We never have. Electricity, I do. A little joinery, yup, no problems. But plumbing – it’s wet and I have an aversion to working with wet. Water has a knack of leaking no matter what you do to stop it. Plug one gap and another leak appears. Electrics don’t tend to do that. Wire it up, put the top back on the junction box and you’re done. Electricity is neat like that.
So, we’re in France and I need to fit a new kitchen sink. Should be simple enough – not least because the taps are wall mounted, so I don’t need to touch the inlet pipes. There’s only the waste to worry about.
Removing the old sink involved a massive demolition job. It had been built up using a combination of bricks and stonework – an extra job I didn’t anticipate. Still, it’s amazing what a sledge hammer will do.
The cold water inlet pipe looked a little frail to me, so I decided to leave welll alone. It was while fitting the waste outlet that I just happened to touch the inlet pipe. Within seconds it seemed that the whole kitchen was flooding as the joint burst apart.
Now, this is Sunday. In the UK it would mean an emergency trip to the local DIY outlet. This is France. In France on Sunday, DIY outlets are closed, so I had to make do with what was lyng around the house. An old piece of pipe, brute force and plenty of silicone sealant later and we have water. It doesn’t look pretty, but we have water. Tommorrow, it’s a trip to the bricolage…
I’m not handy for any sort of job around the house; I’m all thumbs. My father wasn’t handy, but he was always able to afford to hire someone else to do such things. I can’t afford it, so I end up either living with broken stuff or bartering whatever needs done.Visit me @ http://confessionsofalibertine.blog-city.com/
Oooh, sounds like fun – NOT! These things always tend to happen on the weekends, don’t they? So infuriating!
I have to admit I’m not much use in the plumbing department either. If you had flat-pack furniture to put together I’d be very handy with a drill, but pipes and washers just aren’t my kind of thing at all.
If anything went wrong with the plumbing at home my father used to try and have a stab at fixing it, but then he’d usually end up making it worse and have to call the plumber anyway. As a result, he’s given up trying – we have the plumber’s number on speed-dial in the phone *hehehe*
Me 🙂Queenie
Ugh, don’t talk about DIY!!!!!Visit me @ http://iridescence.blog-city.com/
I learned how to do most of that kind of work from my dad. It saves a lot of money when I don’t have to call someone to fix it for me! ;^)Visit me @ http://pimme.blog-city.com
Always have one of those old string type rags around if you are doing plumbing, they make great temporary lagging around joins and shit.
I don’t mind plumbing because wet is still within my idea of stuff I can do without getting killed, whereas sparks stuff I won’t touch with a 9′ pole, especially not with rubber gloves on!Visit me @ http://redbaron.blog-city.com