I had my follow up appointment on Wednesday to get the results of the MRI for my knee. Basically, the doctor said the MRI didn’t show any significant damage and that there is probably no need fir surgery. Based on the MRI and the previous X-RAY, he’s not sure there’s anything worse than a sprain. That said, he has still referred me to a sports medicine orthopedic specialist to see what he thinks. I have an appointment on February 28. I’m guessing he will prescribe some physical therapy or something.

We’ve had a leak under the kitchen sink for a while now. It seemed to be in the faucet and it was pretty small, so we hadn’t done anything about it other than put down a small bowl to catch the water. A few days ago we could smell paint in the house. It turns out a small can of paint under the sink had rusted through. Apparently the leak came down in a few places and wasn’t hitting the bowl anymore. I took the faucet apart and determined the leak was in the core canister (picture on left). I didn’t have the tool to remove the canister, so I decided to replace the faucet. This turned out to be more trouble than I realized. It seems the Moen faucet that I have requires a special wrench to remove the nut securing the faucet to the basin. The nut is attached to a threaded pipe where the sprayer hose attaches. The pipe is about 3 inches, so a socket wrench won’t work. There is also a collar around the nut which prevents the use of any standard wrenches (picture on right). New faucets come with a long, hollow tube with a hexagonal wrench on one end. I did not have one for mine. I borrowed one of these tools from Mary’s dad, but it did not fit my faucet. I checked at Home Depot and they steered me to a shower wrench set. None of them fit. Next I got a basin wrench, but it did not fit inside the collar. Eventually I managed to break off the copper pipes, remove the sprayer hose and bend the collar so I could get a grip on the nut with an adjustable wrench while Mary’s dad turned the faucet from the top. We eventually got it off. What a pain. Now I have a nice, new American Standard faucet. You can see the before and after pictures below.

Old Moen faucet