<p>My H is not the kind of guy that was brought up to fix things around the house. Since we became proud home owners 15 years ago, he has tried to do a few things around the house, because it’s the manly thing to do. There is usually a lot of cursing and banging when he is working on a project. I have a good handyman I could call if things really go south.</p>
<p>One of our bathroom’s faucets need to be changed. H offered to do it himself. He bought the matching faucets (expensive, I am sure) and is to start the work today. 10 minutes into it, he already told me he is going to have to completely take out the sink from the nice tiled counter in order to to unscrew the faucets. My concern is he is going to crack the tiles and we would have to completely replace the whole thing.</p>
<p>This is going to become a multi days/weeks project, I just know it. My neck is so tense now. My kid is going to be without a bathroom for a while.</p>
<p>Plumbing requires the correct tools. He should not have to take out the counter top. He needs a plumber’s Basin wrench that has a flexible jaw that turns 90 degrees.</p>
<p>I can’t tell him that. Once he starts on a project, you can’t tell him what to do. He’s got this crazed look (any wife has seen it besides me?)- it’s a battle between him and the sink.</p>
<p>ooh boy. You are living my (former) life. Husband has finally accepted that he is <em>not</em> handy enough to do work in the main part of the house (i.e., anywhere except the basement or the garage). </p>
<p>He blames it on me being “picky,” as in I do not like a 1/4" gap in crown molding smack in the middle of the living room wall. Plus, I do not like that the room is torn up for weeks and weeks for a small job because he gets stuck, frustrated, and needs to think it over. He also will not buy or rent the correct tools, but feels he should be able to do it with what he has.</p>
<p>So I am extremely happy to be blamed for being “picky.” </p>
<p>We wait until we can afford to hire someone, and I think we are money ahead; sometimes he have had to hire someone to finish something husband started, and I believe that has cost as much or more than if we had hired someone to begin with,</p>
<p>edit: I absolutely know the crazed look. You need an “intervention!” LOL!</p>
<p>I feel your pain oldfort, lol. Around here though, I am the handyman:) I love fixing stuff, painting etc. Even though, dh is a builder and we have access, unless it is a HUGE project, I generally try to tackle things myself. My husband on the other hand is completely useless!! Whenever he tries to do a home repair, it ends up being a massive nightmare, requiring someone to come in to fix what he attemtped to do, lol.</p>
<p>Sometimes being “cheap” can come out very expensive!! Better off sometimes to hire a pro, then having someone come into to redo.</p>
<p>Good luck…If I were you I’d go get a really good book, and steer clear of your husband for today, lol.</p>
<p>Papengena, I am the painter around here, too. I’m too “picky” to like having wall color slopped on the painted woodwork. I’m also “picky” enough to actually press down the painters tape if I use it to mask…so it actually functions. :D</p>
<p>And I won’t get started on surface prep!</p>
<p>(I make him sound like an idiot, but H is actually a great guy.)</p>
<p>Love this thread. You know the old saying - measure twice, cut once. I well remember that brand new countertop. First he cut the hole too wide for the cooktop. We managed to fix it by cutting a couple of inches out of the countertop and shortening it by 2 inches. Then he cut the hole too deep for the sink! I lived with a piece of stainless steel bridging the gap for several years. And the plumbing for the sink! Years of problems with that sink. When we had someone come and install a new countertop and sink he looked at the plumbing in bafflement and asked who on earth plumbed the sink. Said the water just didn’t know where to go! And we decided to paint the ugly old cabinets white which looks nice, except I have no cabinet doors still - 5 YEARS LATER!!</p>
<p>I used to think it was sad my Dad was totally clueless about any sort of handyman stuff. Now I see that is actually a good thing because it means you get to call someone who knows what they are doing.</p>
<p>I am sure we have paid more for tools that get used once on a project than if we just paid someone to do the job.</p>
<p>Tell him to go down to the local Ace hardware or Home Depot or Osh, or… and ask THEM. (That’s how I found out about it years ago, from my ‘helpful Ace Hardware man’.)</p>
<p>The concept of plumbing is rather simple – but it’s all about owning the correct tools. The basin tool was designed solely for removing a faucet from underneath a sink in tight spaces. One costs about $15. While it is rarely used, it comes in handy. Once it’s put into position, it just requires a small turn to unscrew the faucet.</p>
<p>To be fair to oldfort’s hubby, we recently replaced the faucets in our master bath. Well, it took quite a while and required the use of a sawsall. Apparently the faucets were attached to the countertop at a factory somewhere and then the whole thing was installed as one piece. There was literally no access to the nuts that held the faucets in place without removing the countertop and flipping it over or removing every bit of the undersink plumbing. Rather than do that and risk chipping the countertop or wrecking the cabinet, my dh had to saw the faucets off from the top and then remove the rest of the attachments. A job that took me half an hour in the powder room (because I could reach all the pieces) took about 10 days…our sawsall is battery-op and we kept having to wait for it to charge. </p>
<p>The faucets were really cheap too, all the ‘brass’ had worn off. I don’t know why they installed them like they were made from solid gold.</p>
<p>After years of stress, we have a new rule around here–DH does NOT do home improvement projects in the house. He can do anything he wants in the garage or at his office. Not in the house. There has been a hole in the ceiling of the guest room for two YEARS waiting for the light fixture. Wiring is in, etc, but the light fixture is not hooked up. I can’t handle the incomplete projects. I gave him a list 18 months before DD’s First Communion, then called in someone to lay the tile floor in the bathroom a month before the event. I should have banned him from projects then. DH is a great guy, runs his own business, works hard…but he does not house projects done in a reasonable amount of time. The last straw was the bathroom project he promised would take two weekends…6 months later I had someone come finish it. I could not handle the mess, and the lack of sinks in the master bath any longer.</p>
<p>Yes, I think we have a case where the faucet is some how sealed to the basin, can’t get it off. I am holding my breath, I think he may tell me we’ll need to get a new basin. You all know what this may lead to - can’t find a basin to fit the counter top perfectly, lets get a new counter top.</p>
<p>Novelisto - what kind of saw would you need to saw a faucet? My husband is considering it.</p>
<p>oldfort, I feel your pain! My handyman H thinks is is “unmanly” to get outside help for home repair projects. Sometimes his tiny projects turn into major demolishion derbies followed by restoration efforts. And if a project needs a new tool, it is Christmastime for H!</p>
<p>A chain saw? Is your husband is going to go to work in the bathroom with a chainsaw? Oh my goodness. I would suggest you go out to see a movie, except you may need to be there to call 911.</p>
<p>I have never heard of faucets that are “attached” to a baisin or countertop.</p>
<p>In fairness to your hubbies, even with the proper tools, plumbing repairs almost always fight back. It’s the nature of the beast: old corrosion on metal threads, tight places, and so forth.</p>
<p>It’s generally much easier to repair a faucet than replace it … although even that can be a challenge. I recently replaced the faucet at our kitchen sink – the old one was just past the point of diminishing returns to keep replacing washers. I got lucky. With the basin wrench I was able to get the old faucet out without even removing the disposall (which I’ve replaced twice). It wasn’t skill. It was just luck that the nuts and washers came off the old faucet without a fight back in the dark recesses behind the sink.</p>
<p>The nice thing/bad thing about having taken classes to do this kind of stuff myself is that I am learning " the right way" to do something- that it isn’t as hard as H makes it look and that he has done some things wrong, which are impossible to fix without getting down to the studs.</p>
<p>Why is it, that ( IMO) women are more open to , if not reading directions, at least looking up videos on Youtube, and getting advice & Husbands think that by virtue of DNA, they are supposed to know how to do it?</p>
<p>Maybe to men, DNA stands for “Dont Know About”</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>I think they just want an excuse to buy more tools.</p>
<p>Now I like tools too, but I am not as impressed with the sawzall as my H is, he uses it to cut up brush, but my Felco pruning saw, takes less effort and time.
It is handy for pipe though.- but not as exact as you might want.</p>