I'm not a plumber

So, for the last few weeks my whole family has had to use the downstairs shower. This is in the bathroom which is called my bathroom, but outside of being the not one who brushes my teach there, it is hardly mine. The one other way it is mine is it is the place where I take a shower. Well, having everyone use my shower has resulted high occupancy, when it is most needed, the shower door being knocked out of the track, by nobody apparently, and surprise pools of clothes and water. In other words, it has been a minor pain.

Now, they didn't just one day decide to invade my shower, they just preferred it over a hose in the yard. See the upstairs shower, their usual shower, has had problems for a while. It would drip until I replaced the rubber washer on the stem, which I am fairly certain was as old as the house. Even then, to get the dripping to stop I would have to use both hands n the handles to exert enough force to get it to stop. This meant even at its best, I would regularly have to go in and stop the dripping. Well, apparently, I was not the only one doing this. Shelly would do this as well. She did this right up until she twisted the stem into two pieces, leaving the handle with part of the stem inside and the water still trickling.

That was a few weeks ago and I've been looking for a chance to fix it since then. I knew the valves downstairs were old and leaking when touched, which could mean a small job could become a big job quickly. I also knew I was going have to go somewhere to kind the right stems and valves, which might not be Lowes or Home Depot given their age. This weekend, though, when Shelly was in Canada with the Fife and Drum Corps, it was the perfect opportunity.

At first it went as smoothly as these thing can go. Got the water turned off, with no leaking and I have a big bin in place in the event leaking started. I removed the stems, both of them because of their age and problems, not just the one which was broken, with stem removal tool. It looks like a large hexagonal cylinder with a hold for the pry bar. I went to Lowes to discover they did not have the one which would work, or if they did they had no idea which it was and none looked close enough for my comfort. So, I headed to Northside Hardware.

Northside is a large, packed hardware store were the narrow aisle ways look like they could topple onto you, washing you would with a flood of nails and knobs and hinges. It has the appearance of having everything, which means you need the assistance of one of the many old handymen who work their to assist you, Fortunately, a gnome of a man in a red employee smock, spotted me walking around looking for something which matched the worn and dirty plumbing part I have in my hand and he came to my rescue, "Hot and cold?" He asked as he examined the part. "Yes. I need two." Then he was gone, not the back room. I could only imagine what the back room of this Mr.Mcgorium's Hardware Emporium would look like. No matter, in a few minutes, or two additional offers of assistance, he returned the parts in hand.

At home, the parts went in with no problem. I put them in, I tightened them down, then I head downstairs, sending one of the kids up in the event water begins exploding everywhere once the pressure is up. Water goes on and outside of scaring Sierra because the sink came on, a remnant from reducing the water pressure before I started my work, there were no leaks. This is critical and a very good sign. Downstairs the value leaked, but it stopped eventually.

Back upstairs it was the moment of truth. I place the handle on the naked stem. No cover, no screw, I was just using it to test. I turned the handles and ice cold water came out of the faucet, just like it should, but water also started coming out of both of these new stems. Cold the Northside old men have steered me wrong? Could I have placed it wrong, although then shouldn't it have leaked all the time? How in the world do I go from having leak free handles to both of them leaking, even thou I only turned on cold water. I played, with no success, with them for just a bit and then it was time to go to soccer.

I asked Johnny, my brother-i- law, Jim and a few of the other fathers at the game and none of them had any idea. It was, in a word, weird. I tried to do an Internet search and I couldn't find an answer. I talked to my father-in-law and dad at church. Nothing, nobody said, ah this is what you need to do. I wished they had because Shelly was about to come home to a shiny, non-functioning shower. Sure, she left with a non-functioning shower, but I wanted to be "the man". Instead, the closest I got was saying, you want to see something weird?

Last night she took Savannah and Sienna to Fife and Drum corps practice and I thought, this was my chance for a do over. I turned the water off and drained the pipes. I removed the new stem for the cold water and began slowly looking at it compared to the old one. What was wrong, were did the water have to be coming from, how could it get in there. It didn't make any sense. I took it completely apart, and then I saw what was going on. Inside of the mechanism which holds the stem was a rubber gasket, which closed around the stem when you tightened a mystery piece which went around the stem. I had never touched this mystery piece.

I put the stem back together. I replaced the stem. I righted the myster piece on both the hot and cold stems. I can't tell you how much I hoped this would be it. Girl upstairs, water back on, moment of truth and... No leak. I may have stuck both fists up in the air with celebration. Hero of the day.