Getting Too Big For My Britches?

I realize that I in the wake of fixing the sink I may be feeling a bit too invincible, which means I may be getting myself into trouble with this one. Our downstairs shower has not been working very well. The water does not get very hot, and needless to say, taking a lukewarm shower in an ice-cold bathroom in the dead of Winter is a bummer of an experience.

It really discourages the process of personal hygiene, not that I was a diligent practitioner in these matters in the first place. As you might have gathered, the downstairs shower is the one I use. The rest of this family has the good sense to use the upstairs shower, where the water is piping hot and showers/baths are a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Now I realize that common sense would simply dictate that I take showers upstairs, which I’ve been doing, but that hardly solves the problem of the shower not working. To fix the problem, however, would involve some serious plumbing, or at least more serious than I’m used to.

I was looking at the control lever, and I think I can take the thing off. A little research on our good friend Google revealed that there are certain parts within the lever that can go bad over time, and that may be what is happening. Or not, I can’t say for sure. In my case, there is no knowing until I get my hands dirty and try.

The drawback to this approach is that often times when things get dismantled, they are out of commission until someone who knows what they are doing (JH, where are you?) comes in and saves the day. This, in turn, makes me reluctant to initiate the project in the first place, but something’s got to be done, and clearly I’m the one to do it.

On a bright note, I pretty sure that I’ve located the intake valves for the water pipes going into the shower, they’re in the basement, and I think it’ll be easy enough to check and see.

Once the water is shut off, I’ll feel much better about tinkering around. At least then any plumbing disaster can be held at bay until reinforcements arrive. We’ll see how this one goes.

Until then, thanks for reading.