First time I've ever called a plumber

[mark_wpduet]

Most of the time I've just been really lucky I think to have never needed a plumber or was able to fix something myself. Example... Two or 3 times I've replaced the toilet fill valve/ seals... once my kitchen sink got terrible clogged but I was able to get that myself...and another time we replaced an electric water heater ourselves... but plumbing freaks me out...

My house is on a concrete slab..2 bath.. One of the toilets has leaked perodically from underneath... then it will stop for a long time... then it will start leaking again and it's freaking gross. The other thing is the kitchen faucet squeals when I use it...like a screeching sound.. I can only describe it as sounding similar to a tea kettle (but not exactly that sound).. that's the closest thing I can think of..

So the plumber gets here...and guess what? It's NOT the wax ring... the toilet was uneven so he had to shim it... He said the wax ring looked fine and that wasn't the problem. He fixed it and replaced the wax ring.. He said the unevenness would explain the leaking only periodically... but it didn't feel like it had an unevenness to it...I guess it was slight enough that it wasn't noticeable.

Now... the kitchen faucet... He spent 45 min's trying to get that thing off... the bolt had stripped so he had to cut it off... I'm thinking holy crap I'm so glad I didn't try to do this crap myself...

My sink is from 2004.. it had a standard faucet and a separate sprayer inside the base. I wasn't sure which one to buy. He said those are now special order and they are very difficult to find...but found a supply place that had one. I needed the same type because I connect a water filter to it.. I would love to have one of those pull down sprayers but then I couldn't connect my reverse osmosis countertop unit to it... which I've used for over a year now and fell in love with it.

He was here about 3 hours. Total? $700

Probably a rip off but I do NOT care... I'm so glad to finally have a sink that doesn't squeal when using it and a toilet that doesn't leak anymore.

He was really nice. He said...is this a new toilet? he said even the bolts look new... I was like.. .No it's 20 years old.

Lastly... GET THIS: when he first arrived he said "You have a problem". It looks like your water heater is leaking...I said HUH??? he said yea I see the water leaking from the pipe coming out of the house outside... It was the AC condensate drain.

I know all plumbers are outrageous and I could have called some small handyman to do it...but I don't know any... so I just went with a reputable company knowing it was going to be outrageous and hope this is this LAST time I ever have to call a plumber

anyway.. here's the new faucet

 

[launderess]

"I know all plumbers are outrageous ..."

A plumber not out to feather his own nest. Is there such a thing?

*LOL*

Glad your issues were solved with minimal financial pain.

 

[ea56]

Mark,
I’m glad you got all your plumbing issues taken care of. For 3 hours of labor plus a new faucet $700.00 wasn’t too outrageous.

Last month I had to have a plumber out for our HOA to repair an old shower control for the pool showers that was leaking. Normally I do all the small plumbing work both in our home and for the HOA. But this shower control valve is 44 years old and has been exposed to the weather for all 44 years. The part that the handle is attached to had broken off and the body of the control was fused to the base. The plumber had to cut the control valve cover off in order to gain access to replace the leaking control valve. He was here just under an hour, fortunately he had the replacement parts on his truck. The bill was $332. 82. And considering the concentrated effort he put into the job (I watched him the whole time) we got off pretty good.

It sure is handy to have a plumber that you can trust and count on, be sure to keep this plumbers name and number handy for any future plumbing emergencies. Our HOA has been using this same plumber for 26 years and they are dependable and do great work.

I’ve replaced all the bathroom and kitchen faucets in our home more than once. It’s pretty easy most of the time, but luckily I’ve never encountered a bolt that I couldn’t get off, and I would have needed to call a plumber too in an instance like yours too.

Eddie

 

[mark_wpduet]

Thanks....

Yea... I just unscrewed the aerator and guess what... my reverse osmosis doesn't fit.. so now I have to find an adapter... going through the delta faucet literaure he left...it doesn't say what size the aerator is.. I can't find it anywhere...

the reverse osmosis adapter says it uses these
Faucet Adapters: 13/16" male thread faucet, 13/16" female thread faucet, 15/16" female thread faucet

I'm thinking when I bought this over a year ago it came with 2 or 3 adapters... but when I found the one that worked for my sink.. I threw the others away.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Delta...

Glad to see that he installed a Delta kitchen faucet, they are easy to work on, durable and parts are readily available.

Speaking of parts, Delta has a lifetime warranty on certain parts, the cartridge/stems being one of them, be sure to keep your receipts, you may need to provide proof of purchase when requesting replacement parts.

Moen, on the other hand just needed me to send them pictures of my faulty 30 year old shower faucet, they sent me replacements parts, no questions asked, I was pleasantly impressed and surprised.

Delta and Moen are my go too brands when it comes to plumbing fixtures, I avoid the home improvement center in-house brands like the plague...

 

[circlew]

I've got a great plumber, and I have a couple of things I need him to do. I've known him for about 15 years since he installed all new water lines and drain lines in the house. Got to know him well enough I've been to visit him and his wife at their home about 45 minutes away - really nice people.

 

[mark_wpduet]

update

well everything is working great except one thing... I did find an adapter on amazon so my reverse osmosis filter connects to my new faucet now...

I RARELY use the sprayer on a sink..but it's good to have when you need it... anyway, this sprayer has an issue.... what happens is... when you use it... it sprays beautifully... when you you stop and put it back... it keeps spewing a little water... the only way to get it to stop is to turn faucet off/ then hold the sprayer down to let the water out... next time you turn the sink on it's good...

So that made me paranoid... so I took everything out from under the sink and discovered what looked like a little new water (nothing drastic) and I think it just happened BECAUSE of me using the sprayer... I didn't get the vibe the water had been down there that long and it wasn't much... what I think was happening is it was dribbling down the hose when that happened and then onto the bottom of the sink...

so I wiped the little water that was under the sink away... waited... turned faucet on... (not the sprayer) and let it run for a bit... and everything stayed perfectly dry... so I think it's the sprayer that has an issue... I even turned my reverse osmosis filter on to filter a gallon of water to make sure something wasn't happening funky with that... and everything stayed dry... also the dishwasher is running and everything is staying dry.... I'm sure it's the sprayer... I guess I could just NOT use it... But all the work they did is warrantied for 1 year..

 

[mattl]

Simply contact the manf. and get a new sprayer.  I use my  sprayer all the time. In prep for new countertops I bought a new faucet with a separate  sprayer as I HATE pull down sprayer faucets. My other requirement was a separate spout, i dislike the combo with the handle on the spout.

 

This is what I bought

https://www.deltafaucet.com/kitchen/collections/bellini-kitchen-collection

 

[good-shepherd]

Total? $700 Probably a rip off but I do NOT care

The same job in my area likely would have run you close to grand.

Pulling toilets and battling to remove an old faucet ain't easy.

I had a leaking toilet that was also weather dependent turns out the painted metal flange had rusted out.

I replaced it with a galvanized flange and stainless steel screws

 

[mark_wpduet]

Could someone possibly explain what's happening with the sink sprayer I just got?

OK.. Picture it... You turn faucet on (but not all the way) say 1/2 way on... you pull the sprayer out... use it... It sprays exactly like it should..you let off the spray but water keeps dribbling out....turn off faucet completely...then back on... water keeps dribbling out the sprayer... turn faucet off... press spray to let water out... now the dribbling stops...

Now.................. Turn faucet ALL the way to full blast...then use sprayer... stop spraying...no water dribbles from the sprayer at all and seems to work as it should...??

Doing all this.. No leaks under sink... but this time I made sure not to put the sprayer back until I knew no water was dribbling out... I think that dribble will run down the hose and end up under the sink... which is what happened last time I realized it was dribbling water.

This faucet is designed in such a way that when you turn it on...(at least me) I never automatically turn it on all the way....like 1/2 way is enough.... perhaps the sprayer doesn't like it unless the water is all the way on? Either that or something is wrong with the sprayer... But not a drop dribbles out of it if the facuet is on full blast vs 1/2 way

 

[mattl]

Sounds like a diverter issue. It's a small round button like apparatus in the spout assembly.  I'd call Delta or ho ever made it and they should make things right.

 

[good-shepherd]

what's happening with the sink sprayer

Debris in the spray valve or defective spray nozzle?

Probably the latter. Most faucets these days are junk, many are mostly plastic where they were formerly made of brass and copper.

 

[mark_wpduet]

are you freaking kidding me?
so I go to clean that bathroom that had the leaking toilet....(I don't use that bathroom) and I pull the rug up in front of the toilet and there's that same nasty leaking water EVERYWHERE under the rug.... as if absolutely nothing has changed.

 

[ea56]

Mark,
Now that’s depressing, as well as anger provoking after spending $700 for the recent plumbers work to correct this and other issues.

I’ll bet you’ll be calling that plumber as soon as their business opens this morning. I wish you good luck in getting this leaking toilet repaired satisfactorily once and for all.

Eddie

 

[whitewhiskers]

re: leaking toilet

There can be multiple reasons for why a toilet leaks around the base. I didn't understand what you meant by saying the toilet was "uneven." Was the toilet moving or rocking even when bolted down? There's probably been a failure in the flange that attaches to the main waste stack. There are also available in stores extra thick wax rings. A competent plumber knows how to fix all these things, whether your waste pipes are made of cast iron or pvc.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I'm pretty sure everything is PVC....

toilet doesn't nor has never felt uneven... but the last plumber who was here said it was slightly uneven so he put some shims under it to even it out... so the unevenness wasn't noticeable ever...

Whatever he did stopped that leak for a 2 weeks...

What I don't understand is what's leaking is absolutely freaking gross and smells like undiluted urine.... but I know the person isn't missing... Top of the toilet rug dry... lift up bottom... and that wet grossness.. It's almost like a slight thickness to whatever that liquid is... not overly...every so slight thickness... and when/if it leaks whenever it decides to... I can immediately smell when I walk through that bathroom smells like that gross smell... I just cleaned that bathroom and everything is spotless now and smells so clean... (for now)

it's so weird. the leak isn't constant but intermittent and it's not just plain water.... I wish it was plain water.

I use a different bathroom and that toilet is the same age and has never leaked..

 

[ea56]

If this toilet is seldom or never used then the urine smelling liquid can’t be coming from a toilet that has been leaking from the toilet bowl. This urine smelling wetness must be seeping UP from the sewer pipe that the toilet is mounted on with the flange and the wax ring.

And even that doesn’t really make sense because any fluid seeping up from the sewer pipe would be more likely to smell like sewage, rather than urine. Is this toilet on the ground floor and at the lowest level of the home? If so, perhaps your sewer line has some blockage from tree roots and periodically backs up a bit? The installation of a sewer clean out line Pop Up valve would prevent this kind of backup. With a Pop Up valve anytime the line was blocked it would come out through the Pop Up valve and not in the house.

This is a real mystery! Clearly the plumber that claimed the that the toilet being mounted unevenly was wrong. I think I’d ask the plumbing company to send someone else to fix this, and you shouldn’t have to pay for the fix that wasn’t done correctly on the first visit.

Eddie

 

[mark_wpduet]

I dunno.. I mean... I don't think it's the sewer backing up slightly...nor the toilet itself... I mean, the outside stays spotless... along the sides, etc.. where I keep that clean...

It's a single story house on concrete slab built in 2004...pretty modern... whatever it is... is definitely coming from underneath the front of the toilet..as I can see the grout lines in the tile right at the area are wet...

when he took the toilet off the first time he was here.. he said.. yep it's leaking... so even he saw that it was leaking underneath... He thought he fixed it I guess...

I fully plan on calling them back... I mean, their work is warrantied for a year ( so they say )...

another weird thing that happens plumbing wise (that I've noticed for YEARS now)... I swear sometimes I feel like I can smell sewer gas at the kitchen sink drain... after someone takes a shower... like water is getting siphoned out of the U shaped thing that holds water...but I don't smell sewer gas from any other drain and it's not horribly bad... When they were here... i asked if they could get on the roof to check the pipe on the roof to make sure it was OK... he did and said it was fine...

YEARS ago I used to experience what sounded like a surge in the pipes if say, I flushed a toilet at the same time someone was showering in another bathroom...It would be like everything was getting quickly sucked out of the pipes... I never understood what the hell that was... but whatever it was... I haven't experienced that in a LONG time... In fact, all the drains here have always ran perfectly fast....not slow at all..

 

[mattl]

I have not used a wax ring in decades, much better options out there now.  Most are some sort of neoprene and most are reusable - plus no wax mess to clean up.