Larissa P, Still Very Amatuer Plumber

I did tackle that faucet.  This was a fun and interesting step forward, definitely a riskier element than a toilet flusher thingy.  I found one video that included everything from taking out the drain, removing the old faucet, and setting in the new with a few other weird "well there are some situations that you might need X or Y" which did turn out to explain, for example, why there was an extension on the drain and why I still needed that to make my P-trap function correctly.  Yeah, if you don't know what a P-trap is, I didn't either until a week or two ago, but it's the bendy bit of the tubes under the sink, the one that dips down and back up.  Evidently, this helps keep sewer gas from coming up the drain pipe.  The more I delve into it, the more amazed I am with how simple and elegant plumbing can be--gravity does a lot of the work, basic physics shape a lot of the design of these different elements.  In other words, it's not fancy, necessarily, but it is clever and elegant.

So, the faucet.  Step one was to turn the water off.

Hooray!  That was easy enough!

Then, we had to take off supply lines and remove that old faucet.  I elected to replace the supply lines as well, since they appeared to be a little corroded on the inside, or at least had some kind of white gunk that did not look like fresh metal hoses.  I mean, if I could scrape something off or shake something out, it definitely wasn't new at the very least.  It seemed like the other parts were just peachy, though.  Since I was replacing the drain, I also had to take off the P-trap, which led to a cup or two of water coming out, thankfully into a container I had nearby explicitly for that purpose.  Okay.  So far so good, with everything being within the realm of the instructions.

It was a little difficult to get the supply lines off of the faucet itself underneath the sink, but not too bad so far. It was tricky to bet back there more than anything else, but I could at least manage to work those pieces enough to get those pieces loose.  But the nuts holding the faucet to the sink, that was a different story.  Any video so far that I had found recommended a basin wrench or a basin buddy attachment for a socket wrench.  After about an hour struggling to get the pieces loosened in the confined space without this tool, I finally conceded that maybe this was stronger than a suggestion.  There was no way that I was going to make my monkey wrench or channel locks (the kind of wrench with a "jaw" that moves up and down to make it wider but isn't a monkey wrench) both grab what they needed to AND make an effective turn.

I started working on the drain instead for the meanwhile, since at least that was at an angle I could manage to get to loosen.  That was gross when it came out, gunky and gross.

Ew.

I borrowed a basin wrench from a friend (thanks, Dale!) and picked up some WD 40 and a couple new supply lines.  Not sure what a basin wrench is?  It's a long stick with a head at the end that has a head that can either go left to right or flip it over and it goes right to left, depending on what angle and what purpose you're intending.  The top of the wrench, in addition to flipping 180 degrees, also has a flexible piece, as though the top of your average wrench could be stretched out on a spring, meaning that it could fit around most anything, get a good grip, and by turning the long pole that was mounted on, you didn't have to have your hands right up against it in the tiny space, staying about a foot underneath it with this beautiful thing called leverage.  Boy, that made all of the difference. Need a visual?  It's in the picture from the last plumbing adventure. 

Complete with reminder note that the sink wasn't working,
in case it wasn't obvious

The old faucet and drain were gone!  But it had been a lot of work getting those pieces off, particularly with stopping in the middle to get the right tools.  The areas were scoured and ready for the next step.  But I wasn't.  It was enough for one day.

Consensus was out whether that was the hard or the easy part.  I put off the project for a day or three, wanting to ensure that I had enough time to finish the rest in one go, just in case.  I also wanted to have Andy watch the new faucet while I was tightening that piece, to ensure that it was centered and he ended up tightening the last of it for me while I held it, which meant I had to work around his schedule.

When I brought Andy in, he ended up under the sink instead of me, since he could give it that one more tighter twist.  Shortly after, I attached the supply lines and placed the new drain.  That part was blessedly easy, settling it down and screwing it tight.  Under the sink, the end of the drain needed that extension still, too, according to the instructions from the video, where things should settle.  I was glad to have had that work already done for me.  All else seemed to be working well!

Water back on and NO LEAKS!!

...but (particularly with that purple arrow) there was a piece missing.  Yep, premature thumbs up and all the frustration that implies.  That pin-thingy at the back of the sink, that makes the plunger part of the drain go up and down, that was sitting next to the sink.  I had left it out intentionally, because I was SPECIFICALLY following instructions, which had this pin going in as the second to last step, then connecting to the pieces underneath.  But with how close the sink was to the back of the wall, I could not slide it into place.  Ugh.  There was a throwing up of the hands and leaving the room at that one. Better to leave than to flip the table.

About four days later, we loosened the faucet just enough to put the pin through.  The faucet complete, the "No" post-it note change to a "Yes!" post-it next to the sink.  Success!  Faucet changed and looking dapper in its new spot.  Huzzah!

Time to move on to a new room and a new project, with some interesting new skills and understanding.  It's great to have that kind of ownership of my own home and to see our own little touches start to shine out of our space.