Project New Bathroom Faucets

I've been living with my cruddy bathroom faucets for far too long. Now that my counter tops are pretty I figured it was time to get new taps. I scoured the interweb and found some reasonable priced ($50 a piece) easy-to-install ones from Home Depot. I've been careful to never do anything with plumbing so I was pretty nervous. I asked around for some advice, watched some YouTube Tutorials and then I studied the instructions for an hour. I felt well prepared to install this new faucet.

I opened up the bathroom cupboard and tentatively turn the water shut off valves off. There's a million terrible scenarios running through my head but turns out they are unwarranted/ the water shuts off with no scary business. Phewf.

Next I try to unscrew the plastic washers that hold the old faucet on. I can't budge either one of them. At no point in my imaginings did i think that taking Off the old faucet would be harder than putting in a new one. I try and try and then hurt my shoulder and give up. I decide (for lack of options) to wait until Nick comes over for the weekend.

I spend the next three days gazing longingly at my new chrome faucets sitting in their boxes. I tell them their time is coming soon, but they don't seem convinced.

Saturday afternoon, Nick arrives at Chalet Shelly. I point to the taps and ask him to have at 'er. In hindsight, I should've made him read the instructions. I also should've taken inventory on tools. Nick spends the next hour cursing. We dismantle the entire faucet head unnecessarily. At some point I go next door and ask Wendy if I can borrow some wrenches, which she so kindly lends me. (Note to Santa, I don't have any good wrenches or needle nose pliers!) Armed with the appropriate tools, swearing decreases immensely and progress increases rapidly. Win-win! Nick gets kind of soaked which is kind of funny, but other than that it all goes smoothly.

The next morning we work on the second bathroom which is almost a breeze and viola! my bathroom faucets are in and working and beautiful and I'm happy! Nick, on the other hand, is sore from being crammed under the counters for so long and claims he is going to have nightmares. But don't feel too bad for him, I made him a delicious grilled cheese sandwich for lunch!

Okay here's some before and afters. Try to contain your excitement, will ya?

 

Caulk: A Sticky Tale

Disgusting. That is the only word that could be used to describe the state of my shower prior to this project. The caulking in my en-suite bathroom had gone mildewy and it was a sight to behold. I didn't take any pictures because I'm sure you would hold it against me. Unfortunately I didn't get the OCD cleaning gene out of the sisters. 

My first course of action was, of course, to check YouTube for tutorial videos. I watched a couple and I have to say they were the most boring YouTube'ing I have ever done. I hit Home Depot and grabbed some caulk and a caulking gun. Not gonna lie I felt pretty bad ass buying that gear. 

Grout removal time. My tactic was to use the exacto knife to cut all the way down each caulked seam, then go to each edge and try to slide the blade underneath. Some places it was really easy and some places it was impossible.

Then I cleaned the seams with a bleach and water mixture. Then I let it dry over night.... The next night I was scared and excited to start re-caulking! Not going to lie it took me about half an hour to figure out how to get the caulk and caulking gun to be friends. I'm surprised that thing doesn't come with directions. :|

Applying the caulk was simple, but sticky. About 3 minutes into it I, my clothes and the entire bathroom (exaggeration) was covered in silicon. I thought it would just wash off my hands, but it really didn't. I had to google how to get it off - apparently rubbing yourself with a plastic bag will do the trick; that or letting it dry and then just peeling it off. 

The results are amazing, it looks so fresh and clean. So good, in fact, that I decided to re-caulk my second bathroom! Viola, here's some progress photos...