BWW Project #23 Deep sink faucet and bibs

 BWW Project #23  Deep Sink Faucet and Bibs

This is a for-real tough project where lots of stuff can go wrong.  The deep sink, or laundry tub, in the basement has corrupted and leaking hose bibs for the clothes washer feeds as well as a corrupted and dripping faucet, which has probably been there corroding for 30-years, if not 40-years.

The water drips, runs down the hose feeds, and across the floor to the floor drain.  In addition, the previous owner's washing machine leaks slowly, adding to the mess, but that's another problem.

The stems of the hose bibs drip, and...

The faucet and its fittings are corrupted and frozen...

It's all very daunting, because it comes down from above in copper and will have to be removed with the least amount of damage to the plumbing above, if I don't want the job to turn into a nightmare.

The first big problem was to find a faucet that I could install.  Menards had lots of faucets, but this one fits over a small block which is mounted on the top of the laundry tub.  How is that ever going to be replaced with one that doesn't have to be remounted somehow, or shimmed, or some other adjustments that make for an ugly job?

Unbelievably, among all their faucets, most of which fed from the bottom and were useless, Menards had one nice brass faucet which fed from the top and could replace this junk!  I bought it, 34 bucks, thinking that the distances won't line up, the threads might not be the same, etc., etc. and that I would have to do a lot of plumbing to work it in.  And the first problem is to get the old stuff off without wrecking everything!

I set to work with an adjustable crescent wrench to hold one side of each fitting, and a small pipe wrench to try and work them loose.  For about the first time in my life, things went well.  I was able to hold the long pipes steady and put enough pressure on the pipe wrench to move the fittings below.  This pretty much went without indicent with the bibs AND the faucet!  I just had to exercise patience and make sure I was holding things well.

Off they all gradually came!

Now to make the new stuff work.  Gloriously, the new faucet fit over the block and was the same height, and the threads to the fittings above matched, and the distances between the intakes matched!  MIRACLE

The new hose bibs fit and the feeds fit!  I used teflon tape and tightened the threads real well.  

The job looks great.  Everything is new and clean, and non-leaking.  Here is a photo of the replacement parts list and the company, just in case I have to replace this faucet, which is not likely!  A very satisfying project with a good ending!