My bathroom faucet had been dripping for months. It wasn’t too bad, just a slow drip, drip, drip. Until one day, it got worse and went from a drip to fully open. At that point, I had no choice; it needed fixing. I called my friend, a legitimate, licensed plumber for emergency service.

“Hey, can you come down and replace a faucet?”

“Dude, it’s Saturday, I just want to relax.”

“I know, but it needs replacing. I’m not looking for a favor. I want to hire you – your company — to replace my faucet. I have no problem paying for parts, labor, overtime, and emergency service charges. I want it done right, by someone I can trust.

“Listen, I know you. You’ve got some mechanical ability. You’ve already shut off the water correct?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s better than 90% of my customers could do. You’re a half mile from a hardware store, buy a new faucet. Unscrew it, no soldering needed. There are two quick connectors, hot on the left, cold on the right. Remove the old faucet and put in the new one. You’ll finish before I could get to your house. Trust me. You got this.”

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

So, with a new sense of confidence, I set out to replace my faucet on my own: first stop, the hardware store. I never imagined there could be so many faucets — not only different styles but sizes, colors, and types. After 45 minutes, I decide that the bathroom has simple décor, so I’ll choose an equally simple faucet.

I get home and compare the existing faucet to the new one. Nope, not going to work. The new faucet is a single unit, and the old one has three pieces, two handles, and a spigot. Back to the hardware store I go.

Ok, I got the new three-piece faucet (at 3X the price). Now it’s time to undo the quick connects, but I can’t remove by hand. I look through my Fisher-Price toolbox and find a massive pair of pliers, but the quick connects are very old. The first comes undone, but the second doesn’t want to budge. So, I expend every ounce of strength I have to loosen it. I can feel it move, then: SNAP!

Apparently, A Lot Can Go Wrong

I broke the pipe.
Well, technically not the pipe, the shut-off valve. Now I have water streaming all over the bathroom, getting into every crevasse, soaking the vanity from the inside. I throw down some towels in a useless attempt to soak up the torrent of water. Then I hightail it down three flights to the basement. I now need to turn off the water to the entire house. Where before it was just one bathroom, now every bathroom and the kitchen are out of commission.

My friend’s Saturday afternoon was no longer relaxing. He came down and repaired the shut-off valve, replaced the faucet and helped me clean up the mess the water caused. Then he gave me the number for a plasterer — the downstairs ceiling was soaked — and a carpenter as the flooring in the bathroom needed replacing.

Protect Your Investments by Using Experts

It was an expensive lesson, but I should have trusted my instincts. When you need a job done correctly, let the trained professionals do it. They have the knowledge, experience, and tools to get it done right. They also know when to stop before they make a small leak into a waterfall.

When you need reliable service to keep your business up and running, Abel Womack has you covered. We’re the experts in our field. For a customized service plan or emergency service on all your material handling equipment, contact our Service Dept. at 800.554.2887.