 |
| Old shower head |
Yep, that's me. Little Miss Fix It. If things break at home and I can fix it I will, instead of calling the handyman. Just seems easier to do these things myself. This week I faced a challenge, fixing the leaky shower. It took a few days to actually repair. I was very close to just throwing in the towel and calling the handyman. But, I didn't. I fixed the it! So, here is the saga of the shower head.
Elisabeth vs. the Shower.
Round 1- Three days ago as I turned on the shower the head came off. This was a problem. I had to take a shower, I had just finished a workout. It was 9pm. Clearly couldn't call the handyman at that hour even if I wanted to. So, I decided to just try to fix it myself. The only problem was, this wasn't a standard shower head. The shower head didn't just screw back on, instead there was a ball on the end and the head was in two pieces and had a rubber washer to go with it. I spent approx 25 mins trying to get the damn thing back on properly without spraying everywhere. I finally got it into a semi-functional state (it was still leaky, but much more controlled, although the water pressure was very low).
End of round 1 - we'll call it a draw, it wasn't completely fixed, but it was capable of being used.
 |
| The culprit of the leak - a crack on the collar holding the head on the arm. |
Round 2 - I attempted to call the maintenance man in hopes that he would be able to fix it quickly. I couldn't find his number, anywhere. I seriously tried. I tried calling the landlord, who wasn't in (and left him a message). I tried going to my neighbors, they either weren't home or didn't have the number. So, I figured since I had to go to Target anyway, I would just get a new shower head there. Epic failure. This is when I realized that we had a crazy old shower head (clearly time for a new one). Target does not carry that style of shower head. So, I moved on to OSH. No luck, they didn't even know what I was talking about. At this point I was completely frustrated. I was afraid I had no choice but to track down the handyman and get it repaired by him. This is not something I wanted to do because it meant that I couldn't do it myself, and I am my mother's daughter and figure that if I can fix its easier than calling someone in.
End of round 2 - Shower -1; Elisabeth - 0. I was not going to let this damn shower beat me.
 |
| Old shower arm with ball on end - not normal |
Round 3 - Beginning of day 3 of the shower saga. At this point I had left yet another message for the landlord about needing the maintenance man's phone number. (Just in case I couldn't solve the problem on my own, the landlord had called me the previous night, while I was in Target, but I didn't hear the phone ring, and he didn't leave a message and when I called back no answer.) Then I started doing some research online and I realized that I was not going to be able to find the part anywhere (not easily anyway) and this was going to be harder than I originally thought (as the collar was cracked and finding just that piece wasn't going to be happening anytime soon, and the whole damn piece was so old that I needed to start all over). So, I called up the hardware store that we went to when I was a kid, Virgil's in Glendale. I figured that this would be my best shot at finding the parts that I needed to repair this busted thing. Jackpot! They not only knew what I was talking about, but they had the parts I would need to repair the blasted thing. I knew at this point I had the upper hand. All I needed to do was get to the hardware store and we would have a functioning shower once again.
 |
| Really BIG pipe wrench |
I headed to Virgil's with my dad on our way to the Dodger game and when we got there I had a moment where I thought I couldn't do it. But, the guy simply explained everything to me and I bought the pieces I would need (including a new pipe, special tape for the pipe, and a new shower head - a regular one). All I needed now was a pipe wrench, which my dad had. After the game I got home and prepared to defeat the shower one final time. Less than 20 minutes later.... success! I had finally gotten the old pieces out and the new ones installed and there were no more leaks. End of round 3 - Shower -0; Elisabeth -1. (I took away the shower's points from Round 2 as I clearly defeated it, beacuse it is now in pieces in the trash.)
 |
| I'm not afraid to get my hands a little dirty to get the job done. |
It might've been faster and it definitely would've been cheaper to just call the handyman. But, I'm stubborn like that and I was determined to do this and I knew I could. And I did. (The new one might not match, as it's white, but I still did it. Could you?)
 |
| The new fully functional shower head. |
