horseatingweeds
Member
Here's an annoying story. I had a drippy shower faucet. I figured It would need some new inserts, or maybe some seals. I can handle this kind of repair myself, but I'm trying to learn to hire people to do these kinds of annoying jobs so I can focus on other things.
I also will need a new water heater soon, and I'd like a whole house filtration system, so I decided to hire a plumber for the job. If they did a good job on the leak, I'd probably hire them for the other stuff.
As it turns out, the diverter was a miserable Glacier Bay, and they couldn't find the inserts available at any nearby Home Depot. They told me I can order the inserts and put them in myself, or they can swing back by to do it. I didn't want to screw around, so I asked them about replacing the whole diverter and adding some shutoff valves. They gave me a good price and left immediately to fetch the new Pfister Bedford 801-WS2-BD.
They struggled to put the thing in. It ended up taking them 4 hours. There's an access panel, but they were having trouble getting the whole assembly straight. They finally got it in, had their boss come buy to check their work -- i guess they had questions about putting in the valve stems. There was definitely some on-the-job learning that afternoon.
The next day I notice a tiny leak. A super small leak in the down stream solder joint for the cold water shutoff valve. I called them up, they came back out, and fixed it pretty clumsily by re-heating the joint and shoving more solder in.
Several days later, a Saturday morning, I realize there is a small leak now in the hot water shutoff -- the down stream solder joint. This one got progressively worse over the following hours so I had to shut it off. I called them up. They want to come fix it, but I'm not sure I want them anywhere near my plumbing.
So now I made an appointment with a new plumber, a larger local outfit with numerous good reviews. I plan to have him replace the piping they did and make sure the rest of the faucet is done correctly.
I also will need a new water heater soon, and I'd like a whole house filtration system, so I decided to hire a plumber for the job. If they did a good job on the leak, I'd probably hire them for the other stuff.
As it turns out, the diverter was a miserable Glacier Bay, and they couldn't find the inserts available at any nearby Home Depot. They told me I can order the inserts and put them in myself, or they can swing back by to do it. I didn't want to screw around, so I asked them about replacing the whole diverter and adding some shutoff valves. They gave me a good price and left immediately to fetch the new Pfister Bedford 801-WS2-BD.
They struggled to put the thing in. It ended up taking them 4 hours. There's an access panel, but they were having trouble getting the whole assembly straight. They finally got it in, had their boss come buy to check their work -- i guess they had questions about putting in the valve stems. There was definitely some on-the-job learning that afternoon.
The next day I notice a tiny leak. A super small leak in the down stream solder joint for the cold water shutoff valve. I called them up, they came back out, and fixed it pretty clumsily by re-heating the joint and shoving more solder in.
Several days later, a Saturday morning, I realize there is a small leak now in the hot water shutoff -- the down stream solder joint. This one got progressively worse over the following hours so I had to shut it off. I called them up. They want to come fix it, but I'm not sure I want them anywhere near my plumbing.
So now I made an appointment with a new plumber, a larger local outfit with numerous good reviews. I plan to have him replace the piping they did and make sure the rest of the faucet is done correctly.
Last edited:
