teebee wrote:
Speaking of f*#king plumbing, the guy I call on to help me on a regular basis (former student) got a new job teaching carpentry in a post secondary vocational school and will be moving. Yesterday he called to ask me if I could help him with something. So I stop by to find he has a f*#king plumbing question. A couple years back he was re-doing the bathroom and his plumber screwed up and made the riser from the handle to the spout too short for the big round trim plate to fit above the spout. So for the last two years the spout has stuck out from the wall. With the new job, it means a move and selling this house. Anyway they were having an "Open House" today and his wife wanted this faux pas fixed. I told him I could cut the plate to fit around the spout and it would look fine. You have to understand, he hates plumbing more than I. So I go to remove the spout, should be hand tight, but no, I'm really straining and it isn't budging. So I grab my pair of channel lock pliers, grab the extension pipe (where it's too long and sticks out from the wall) and start to turn it. Sure enough it starts to turn, so I grab another bite on it and twist again. Sh!t, "Something isn't right here, Bob." I twisted the copper L into oblivion and completely off. Luckily, there was an access panel where we could get to the valve. I was able to remove the nipple and take it to my shop where I was able to un-solder the thing and solder a new L on (Luckily I found one). I cut the plate and we went back and put everything back together and I'm a HERO with his wife. I was just lucky that we didn't have water gushing out all over the place.