Rant: My whole week got wrecked by a single plumbing job in the Wolflin area

I had a simple plan to replace a kitchen faucet for a client off 15th Street, but the old shutoff valves were totally frozen. I mean, they just crumbled when I tried to turn them. That meant I had to shut off the main water line to the whole house, which is always a gamble in these older Amarillo homes. The main valve itself was stiff and took me over an hour just to get it to budge without breaking it. By the time I got the new faucet in, tested for leaks, and turned everything back on, what should have been a 90 minute job ate my entire Tuesday. Has anyone else run into a ton of these bad shutoff valves lately, or did I just have a cursed week?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugos4622d ago

An hour just on the main valve is brutal. Those old valves are a total trap. Sounds like a nightmare of a day.

drew_hart422d ago

Totally agree about those old valves being a trap. Read a forum post last week where a guy said he spent two hours on one before it finally snapped off. He had to cut the line and redo the whole fitting. Makes you want to just replace them all before they become a problem.

sean_green4422d ago

Yeah, that "redo the whole fitting" part is the real kicker. It's never just the valve, is it? Once it snaps, you're suddenly into a much bigger repair. Do you think it's worth the risk to try and turn them at all before a project, or is that just asking for trouble?