That’s it. It’s over. For now at least anyway.

If anyone ever suggests to you that changing the taps in the bathroom is a quick and easy way to ‘refresh’ your room, my advice is to punch them swiftly in the face.

 

 

Let me give you a summary of what has gone on so far in #TapSaga in abbreviated bullet list format:

• Our old bathroom taps were leaking and a bit manky so we decided to buy some more.
• We went to B&Q to buy some we had seen on the website that were in stock.
• They weren’t in stock.
• We waited for them to come back into stock only to be told that they were no longer being manufactured.
• We went to B&Q and bought some different taps.
• I decided to fit the sink taps first as they were the easiest to get to.
• In removing the first tap (the hot one incidentally) i managed to break the corner off of our 70ish year old ceramic sink.
• I decided to super-glue the sink back together.
• I super-glued myself to a sink for roughly 45 minutes.
• I got upset and re-fitted the old, manky, drippy hot tap.
• Sarah found a matching sink for sale on eBay.
• I bought it.
• The man I bought it from packaged it up so well it added an extra 7 kilos of weight and clearly marked it as fragile ceramic.
• Parcelforce clearly mistook it for a football or something and promptly kicked it around a warehouse.
• Parcelforce delivered a very smashed sink.
• I got angry.
• Parcelforce informed me that they do not cover for broken ceramic items.
• I got very angry.
• Subsequent attempts to purchase a second replacement sink have thus far failed.
• Roughly a month passed.
• We still have manky drippy taps.
• I get fed up and decide to fit the new taps again, despite still having a broken, albeit mended, sink.
• I decided to start with the bath as quite frankly I was scared of the sink.
• I took the side off the bath and discovered I would have to dismantle the end of the bath panel to get it off.
• In dismantling the end of the bath, I had to pull back the lino.
• In pulling back the lino I damaged the silicone seal round the edge of the room.
• In pulling back the lino I ripped the lino.
• I got angry.
• Having removed lots of wood and nails I eventually removed the bath taps.
• I put in the new tap to discover that the threaded bit on the bottom was roughly an inch shorter than the old taps.
• The pipework wouldn’t pull up to reach the new taps.
• I got quite annoyed.
• Leaving the bath alone for a while I decided to remove the sink taps in the hope I would have more luck there.
• The old taps came out without issue.
• I cheered up a bit.
• I fitted the new taps.
• They were around 2cm shorter than the old taps
• The pipework would’t reach these either.
• I got annoyed again.
• I went to B&Q to buy some flexible tap connectors to replace the length-challenged pipework, and some silicone.
• I forgot to buy the silicone.
• One of the flexible connectors I bought wasn’t long enough.
• I got very annoyed.
• I went back to B&Q and swapped it for a longer one, and bought some silicone.
• New taps were fitted and connected roughly 1 hour later.
• I cheered up a bit.
• I rebuilt the bath and made a new end panel.
• I cut new panels to cover behind the sink pedestal
• I put the lino back down
• I glued the tear in the lino.
• I replaced the silicone seal round the whole bathroom.
• I forgot to seal round the radiator pipes.
• This still need to be done.
• I am past caring.
• We have new taps.
• I need new knees.
• The sink is still broken.
• The lino is now torn a bit.
• I wish I’d never started.

So there you have it… #TapSaga is complete. At least it is until Sarah finds a replacement sink on eBay and I have to start again.