In 2005, when we built our house, we had talked about replacing the kitchen sink someday.
The sink we put in was a double bowl stainless sink Rita had found it at her mother’s home. It was in one of the outbuildings that was full of accumulated treasures that her mother either could not face getting rid of, or had picked up at some garage sale at a great price.
It was free, so we put it in. and it worked fine, except washing dishes were difficult. Using the small bowl was like trying to wash pots and pans in a teacup.
Fast forward nine years.
We were in Construction Junction, a favorite place for Rita to browse and get artistic inspiration. People who remodel their home or business would take their discarded items to Construction Junction to be sold at a very reasonable price to be re-used or recycled. When we built the house, we found many useful items at a great price: doors for $10 – $25, a electrical cook top for $50, windows under $25, sink cabinets for $10. Whereas we could get useful used items for a reasonable price at Construction Junction, Rita’s Moms stuff was free.
Another difference is that Construction Junction is organized. Her Mom’s organization is based off chaos theory . You can walk through a narrow walkway in her Mom’s basement and you will find shotgun shells, old Jello packages, a broken freezer full of plastic bags, 20 year old sheets and a saxophone all piled on one another next to a dresser containing half full bottles of wine and whisky that had been open 25 years ago. We don’t like to call her mom a hoarder, but the TV show could would love to do a segment on her.
So it did not surprise me that on this trip to Construction Junction, Rita’s DNA kicked in. She call me over to look at this single bowl stainless steel sink. Since, I could not find anything wrong with it, we took it home. A new sink would cost us between $250 – $400. This one costs $15.00.
It had been years since I installed a kitchen sink, but I took my time on a Monday and removed the old double bowl sink and put in the new one. The skills needed to do this kind of job are somewhere between a contortionist warming up for a show and a blind guy using a screwdriver to set his watch.
Working under the sink can be painful and dangerous. One is either putting strain on their back, banging their knuckles with slipping wrenches, or hitting their head on the top of the cabinet door.
And the language! It could make a sailor blush. It is one of those tasks that require to try putting two four letters together to make up new words.
Also, wearing bifocals and screwing in sink brackets while lying on your back under the sink is like trying to push a rope up a water slide, with your bare toes.
Emergency room doctors and chiropractors love people who work under the kitchen sinks.
With all the complaining, cussing and skinned knuckles and head, the job got done.
We now have a single bowl stainless steel kitchen sink.
And, of course a new drain as well. The old double bowl drain system looked like a sank pit. This one is much neater.
Of course we won’t tell you of the follow up work that is needed.
Anybody who said plumbers get paid too much has not worked under a kitchen sink.