WE MOVED! This past weekend was chock full of packing boxes, hauling boxes downstairs, loading the UHaul, driving to our new house, and unloading boxes, and doing it all again.
THREE DAYS of moving, and we didn't have any time to unpack things or do any of the little home improvement projects we're aching to tackle. But after two days in the house, it's time to get started.
You might already know that when you move in to a new house or apartment, you will find that some items don't work and need to be fixed sooner rather than later. These are items you didn't notice when you first saw the house, when you went through the house in the home inspection, or when you went back for the walk-through. Little things that you wouldn't notice until you start living in your new home.
THREE DAYS of moving, and we didn't have any time to unpack things or do any of the little home improvement projects we're aching to tackle. But after two days in the house, it's time to get started.
You might already know that when you move in to a new house or apartment, you will find that some items don't work and need to be fixed sooner rather than later. These are items you didn't notice when you first saw the house, when you went through the house in the home inspection, or when you went back for the walk-through. Little things that you wouldn't notice until you start living in your new home.Our first surprise non-working item was the master bathroom sink faucet. It was spraying water everywhere and needed to be changed.
In the first few days of living in the house, we used the guest bathroom in the hall instead. After a trip to Home Depot, my handyman hubby was pumped to replace the faucet. I wanted a hand in the work, too, so we went at it. Somehow we decided to start at 10pm after a long day of work, finally taking our last things out of our apartment in Arlington and saying goodbye to our first home together, and moving some boxes around in the house. We probably should have gone to bed instead, but we were excited to make little home improvements right away.
Anyway, back to the faucet.
It was pretty simple, really. First we got out our drill, safety goggles, 12-inch wonder bar, and wrench. We used the drill to take out the two little screws on the top of the faucet handles (you can see them in the picture above on the inside of the handles). Then handyman hubby turned the handles under the sink (inside the vanity) to turn off the water. The tubes (see the picture) connect the faucet to the pipes. We loosened the nuts at the top of the tubes, which then disconnected the tubes, and then we emptied the little bit of water from the tubes into a big bucket we use for these types of projects. Next, we loosened the little nut that connects the piece in the middle to the faucet and loosened the white plastic pieces that held the faucet in place (one on each side, all the way on the top in the picture to the left). After that, we pulled the faucet right out!
We used the wonder bar to clean the gunk off the sink where the faucet used to be. There wasn't too much gunk, though, and it was a quick job! We sprayed the sink with some all-purpose cleaner, and now it's ready for its new, purdy faucet.
Make sure to measure the size of your faucet before buying a new one. We measured from the left to the right and it was 4 inches across, so we went to Home Depot and bought a new Delta Porter 4 inch faucet. We're really happy with the results! The faucet has a 7 inch mid-arc spout height and 5 inch reach, which gives us a lot more space for our hands underneath than we had with the old faucet. Plus, we much prefer the modern look over the old style faucet. Our bathrooms all have this same faucet, so they will all be changed out eventually! Here's the final before and after. Not bad for a small DIY project!
Tools:
safety goggles
drill
wonder bar
wrench
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $64 for the new Home Depot faucet
No comments:
Post a Comment