Most days I can navigate life without any hiccups, but once every few months I'll do something so dumb I think there's no way anyone else would make this mistake.
Get done showering in the morning, turn the handle on the shower, and it spins around freely. Happened before so I grab my allen wrench and pliers to remove the old handle and turn off the water. So I'm naked, bent over trying to see this tiny allen head screw under the shower handle, while the shower is still running full blast dripping on my head. The screw is stripped and I'm growing more impatient as the seconds tick by. Wife is trying to get ready and I can see her glance back every so often to see when I'm going to explode. I finally get mad and give the handle a few sideways yanks and break it off. I look down and say, "yep, I'm done". Wife says she will call the plumber. She is a home builder so her subs will usually send one of their crews by for little or no charge.
Plumber comes by that afternoon and installs a new cartridge but says he can't put the old handle on because of the stripped allen screw. I say no problem I'll handle it. I go to Lowes and grab a new handle. I install the plastic adapter then the handle, voila. Turn the handle to test it out and it will only turn halfway. I pull the handle off and turn the adapter to see it's catching on a little piece of metal. No problem; I'll just unscrew the adapter, pinch the metal piece, and be good to go. I place myself in front of the shower, insert my drill, and start to unscrew. This is when my mistake occurs. Our old handle was hard to turn, new cartridge is as smooth as butter. I realized this when my drill had enough torque to turn the shower on full blast by trying to unscrew the adapter. Shower comes on and blasts me with ice cold water, I yell several obscenities while trying to decide if it will take longer to jump out or switch my drill around and reverse the screw. This took all of three seconds but felt like an eternity. I switch it around in time to hear the wife yelling from the other room asking what's wrong. I ignore her.
I calmly fixed the issue and reinstalled everything. I walk through the living room so I can remove my now very wet clothes in the laundry room. Wife looked at me trying not to laugh while at the same time wondering what may have happened. I get cleaned up, sit down, and think what level of jackass does it take to do something like that.
Just thought I would share. Maybe someone can get a laugh out of my misfortune.
Get done showering in the morning, turn the handle on the shower, and it spins around freely. Happened before so I grab my allen wrench and pliers to remove the old handle and turn off the water. So I'm naked, bent over trying to see this tiny allen head screw under the shower handle, while the shower is still running full blast dripping on my head. The screw is stripped and I'm growing more impatient as the seconds tick by. Wife is trying to get ready and I can see her glance back every so often to see when I'm going to explode. I finally get mad and give the handle a few sideways yanks and break it off. I look down and say, "yep, I'm done". Wife says she will call the plumber. She is a home builder so her subs will usually send one of their crews by for little or no charge.
Plumber comes by that afternoon and installs a new cartridge but says he can't put the old handle on because of the stripped allen screw. I say no problem I'll handle it. I go to Lowes and grab a new handle. I install the plastic adapter then the handle, voila. Turn the handle to test it out and it will only turn halfway. I pull the handle off and turn the adapter to see it's catching on a little piece of metal. No problem; I'll just unscrew the adapter, pinch the metal piece, and be good to go. I place myself in front of the shower, insert my drill, and start to unscrew. This is when my mistake occurs. Our old handle was hard to turn, new cartridge is as smooth as butter. I realized this when my drill had enough torque to turn the shower on full blast by trying to unscrew the adapter. Shower comes on and blasts me with ice cold water, I yell several obscenities while trying to decide if it will take longer to jump out or switch my drill around and reverse the screw. This took all of three seconds but felt like an eternity. I switch it around in time to hear the wife yelling from the other room asking what's wrong. I ignore her.
I calmly fixed the issue and reinstalled everything. I walk through the living room so I can remove my now very wet clothes in the laundry room. Wife looked at me trying not to laugh while at the same time wondering what may have happened. I get cleaned up, sit down, and think what level of jackass does it take to do something like that.
Just thought I would share. Maybe someone can get a laugh out of my misfortune.
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