Something broken got fixed!
I posted on a plumbing website my problem with having a stuck brass tub stopper. A few plumbers answered and basically told me to dig out the pipe and replace it. Not a bad idea, I suppose, if that's an option in your budget.
Listen, there's nothing I would have rather done than to tear out the bathroom and re-do it. The mechanical in this house makes no sense. There are three furnaces. I'm pretty sure two would do the job. I'd also really like to re-do the tub/shower/washer-dryer hookups. Someday I'm gonna redo that room and take out the hookups and install a jetted tub. The bathrooms upstairs are too small, but the one downstairs would work.
That's in the future. The present requires a little bit more, well, inexpensive, alternatives. I thought for sure a saws-all would work. I didn't have one. I do now, but because of the way the tub is installed, that's not gonna work. I bought the battery operated one that works with all my other stuff. Then I went to Harbor Freight and could have bought an electric one for $20. Yeah, I know, it's Harbor Freight and I'm better off, but if you need some cheap tools you're not gonna beat on, they're a great option.
Anyway, the saws-all didn't work. So I bought a set of rotary files. And a hole saw at Lowe's. The hole saw worked in busting the thing loose and in the process, damaging the flange on the tee. I went to use a rotary file on it and that's when I found it loose. But loose and out of the hole, well, that's another thing entirely. But a pair of needle nose vise grip pliers and now the drain is cleared, kinda.
I'd forgotten I'd dropped a screwdriver down the drain. So, I found a 4" long grabber screw in my bucket of parts in the garage. I took my long #2 phillips screwdriver and used some more JB weld to hold the screw to the screwdriver. I was able to stick the grabber screw into the plastic handle of the screwdriver in the drain, and after twisting it in a few turns, I grabbed the screw head with a pair of lineman's pliers and pulled it out.
So the drain is cleared. Now I need to replace the plumbing parts for the tub overflow. The original got misplaced and then tossed during the basement remodel. It got used for something else for a while and then I think it was thrown out. I had to replace the stopper and the lever anyway and they make a kit. Now the kit had a plastic stopper and had I used all of the parts in the kit, the stopper would stop and not just slow the flow of water as it does now. And even with the kit, I still had to frankenstein the drain together using a piece of extension pipe that I just happened to have in the garage. (Save everything that's not broken. You never know when you'll need it. The same rule applies to anything you know is a piece to something but you don't remember just exactly what.) I had to cut the overflow drain piece to size, but guess what? I have a saws-all. No problem.
As I mentioned, I damaged the tee for the overflow and there's no practical way that thing is ever coming out of the floor without taking out much of the floor too. That's where the JB weld comes back in. Hey, I just need it to hold water, and only sometimes. As for the stopper that's now a slower--that's why they make rubber stoppers.
Speaking of stoppers, the screw for the hair screen for the tub corroded and broke. I drilled it out, re-tapped the hole and it's good to go. I still have yet to use an easy-out in my lifetime and actually have it work. Fortunately, the screw was brass, and what was left of it was really, really soft. I had the drill bits and a tap and die set in the garage.
The plumbing parts, including JB weld were $30. The tools were $70. Everything costs $100 these days. It's the new $50.
But it's fixed. Something broken is fixed!!!!!!
I needed that today. I had the worst day yesterday. I've not been sleeping much and I'm just beat down emotionally and physically. But something today went right. RIGHT!
I didn't do any of this by myself. I had help. God gives us gifts. He gave me the necessary smarts to complete the project without too much damage. He provided the know how and the nudge to go with the hole-saw idea. Had I put all of my tools back in their proper spots, I had a smaller hole saw I would have used and saved $10. Now I have another to add to the collection. He provided the money because of the overtime I was able to work. I had everything I needed or found everything I needed at the stores I went to. And for once, things went right. Actually too right. I would have been fine with a hole saw I found in a garage and I could've saved myself $70, but then I wouldn't have a saws all, rotary files, and a 1 1/2 inch hole saw.
They'll get used again, just not for a stuck tub stopper.
Listen, there's nothing I would have rather done than to tear out the bathroom and re-do it. The mechanical in this house makes no sense. There are three furnaces. I'm pretty sure two would do the job. I'd also really like to re-do the tub/shower/washer-dryer hookups. Someday I'm gonna redo that room and take out the hookups and install a jetted tub. The bathrooms upstairs are too small, but the one downstairs would work.
That's in the future. The present requires a little bit more, well, inexpensive, alternatives. I thought for sure a saws-all would work. I didn't have one. I do now, but because of the way the tub is installed, that's not gonna work. I bought the battery operated one that works with all my other stuff. Then I went to Harbor Freight and could have bought an electric one for $20. Yeah, I know, it's Harbor Freight and I'm better off, but if you need some cheap tools you're not gonna beat on, they're a great option.
Anyway, the saws-all didn't work. So I bought a set of rotary files. And a hole saw at Lowe's. The hole saw worked in busting the thing loose and in the process, damaging the flange on the tee. I went to use a rotary file on it and that's when I found it loose. But loose and out of the hole, well, that's another thing entirely. But a pair of needle nose vise grip pliers and now the drain is cleared, kinda.
I'd forgotten I'd dropped a screwdriver down the drain. So, I found a 4" long grabber screw in my bucket of parts in the garage. I took my long #2 phillips screwdriver and used some more JB weld to hold the screw to the screwdriver. I was able to stick the grabber screw into the plastic handle of the screwdriver in the drain, and after twisting it in a few turns, I grabbed the screw head with a pair of lineman's pliers and pulled it out.
So the drain is cleared. Now I need to replace the plumbing parts for the tub overflow. The original got misplaced and then tossed during the basement remodel. It got used for something else for a while and then I think it was thrown out. I had to replace the stopper and the lever anyway and they make a kit. Now the kit had a plastic stopper and had I used all of the parts in the kit, the stopper would stop and not just slow the flow of water as it does now. And even with the kit, I still had to frankenstein the drain together using a piece of extension pipe that I just happened to have in the garage. (Save everything that's not broken. You never know when you'll need it. The same rule applies to anything you know is a piece to something but you don't remember just exactly what.) I had to cut the overflow drain piece to size, but guess what? I have a saws-all. No problem.
As I mentioned, I damaged the tee for the overflow and there's no practical way that thing is ever coming out of the floor without taking out much of the floor too. That's where the JB weld comes back in. Hey, I just need it to hold water, and only sometimes. As for the stopper that's now a slower--that's why they make rubber stoppers.
Speaking of stoppers, the screw for the hair screen for the tub corroded and broke. I drilled it out, re-tapped the hole and it's good to go. I still have yet to use an easy-out in my lifetime and actually have it work. Fortunately, the screw was brass, and what was left of it was really, really soft. I had the drill bits and a tap and die set in the garage.
The plumbing parts, including JB weld were $30. The tools were $70. Everything costs $100 these days. It's the new $50.
But it's fixed. Something broken is fixed!!!!!!
I needed that today. I had the worst day yesterday. I've not been sleeping much and I'm just beat down emotionally and physically. But something today went right. RIGHT!
I didn't do any of this by myself. I had help. God gives us gifts. He gave me the necessary smarts to complete the project without too much damage. He provided the know how and the nudge to go with the hole-saw idea. Had I put all of my tools back in their proper spots, I had a smaller hole saw I would have used and saved $10. Now I have another to add to the collection. He provided the money because of the overtime I was able to work. I had everything I needed or found everything I needed at the stores I went to. And for once, things went right. Actually too right. I would have been fine with a hole saw I found in a garage and I could've saved myself $70, but then I wouldn't have a saws all, rotary files, and a 1 1/2 inch hole saw.
They'll get used again, just not for a stuck tub stopper.
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