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My new shower head took 90 minutes to install (should have been 15) | Fix My Monologue - Free To Speak

My new shower head took 90 minutes to install (should have been 15)

I bought a basic handheld shower head from the hardware store downtown thinking I could swap it out in 15 minutes flat. What I didn't count on was the old nut being completely seized up with mineral deposits and rust. I spent a good 45 minutes just trying to get that thing loose with a wrench and some WD-40. Then when I finally got it off, I realized the new one didn't come with a proper washer so I had to run back to the store for a second trip. Total time from start to finish was about 90 minutes for something I thought would be a quick win. Has anyone else run into a simple home project that just snowballed into a whole afternoon?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_shah882mo ago

OH man, that is the WORST feeling when a simple job turns into a whole DAY project! I had the SAME thing happen with a kitchen faucet, thought it would be a 20 minute swap and ended up fighting a corroded supply line for over an hour before I snapped a bolt and had to cut the whole thing out. It’s like the universe just decides to test your patience on small stuff.

leehall2mo ago

What gets me is how we all just accept that it's "testing our patience" like it's some random thing. Nobody ever talks about how house parts are basically designed to fail on purpose now. That supply line corroded because they switched to cheaper brass fittings years ago that have a known lifespan of like 8-10 years. I've had three different plumbers tell me the same thing off the record. It's not bad luck, it's planned obsolescence. People get mad at themselves for not knowing how to fix it, when really the companies making this stuff know exactly what they're doing.

morgan_king362mo ago

Pulled the same move with a toilet flapper last year, thought it would be a 10 minute fix but the old bolts were so rusted I ended up snapping two of them off in the tank. Had to drain the whole thing, chip out the broken pieces with a screwdriver, and drive to three different stores before I found replacement bolts that actually fit. Little jobs like that always turn into a whole afternoon of chaos for no good reason.