RIP poorly-installed old faucet.
On our last trip up to Sparrow House to winterize the place, I noticed the kitchen faucet had finally given up on life. Sad, but not totally unexpected as things tend to go in this house about once a month. After a quick YouTube search, replacing a kitchen faucet seemed like a fairly straight-forward thing to do, so I decided I’d save the money and replace it myself.
For a moment, I had visions of actually buying my dream faucet…this stunning brass, gooseneck-bridge-beauty with cross handles I’ve been eyeing for years. But alas, it’s not time for such frivolities. A $1500 faucet does not mesh well with IKEA. The kitchen renovation will happen someday, but for now, your standard, stainless steel faucet with the pull-down nozzle will do just fine.
The Dream Faucet lives on in my mind…
I’d like to add that spending $80-$100 on a kitchen faucet you do not like is not particularly fun. And picking out the least offensive one in a sea of boring stainless steel isn’t either. But I settled on the Glacier Bay Market Pull-down and called it a day.
When I got home, I pulled everything out from under the sink and took a look at what I was dealing with. Unfortunately, it was this:
Which didn’t look like any of the You Tube video tutorials or instruction manuals at all. I turned off the water and gas and unscrewed the two screws in that weird, green, metal collar around the faucet hoses. (I’d like to mention here that I have no idea how large plumber men get anything done. Wedging myself under this IKEA sink unit involved some serious contortion.) The metal ring wouldn’t budge. I tried everything, screw drivers, wrenches, WD-40 all to no avail. In the end, after tearing up both of my hands real good, I brought out the hacksaw. It cut through the copper pipes in the water hoses in no time, which let the whole thing fall through the sink hole. Not pretty, but it did the trick.
The installation of the new faucet was much simpler. I simply slid the faucet through the center hole and screwed the plastic cap over the pipe underneath to hold it in place. Next, I added the weight to the pull-down faucet hose and after some fumbling with a wrench, I managed to get the old water hoses disconnected and the new ones on. Turned the water and gas back on, checked for leaks and voila. It’s done!
