That leaky faucet fix I swore was a 30 minute job

I had a kitchen faucet dripping for weeks, figured it was just a worn out washer. Popped the handle off and found a cracked cartridge inside, which Home Depot told me was a standard size. Three trips to three different hardware stores in Omaha later, I finally found the right one buried in a bin at a plumbing supply house. What I thought would take less than an hour ended up taking 5 days because of chasing the wrong part. Has anyone else dealt with a simple fix turning into a whole project because parts aren't as universal as they claim?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_allen1mo ago

Home Depot pulls that crap all the time where they say it's standard but it's definitely not. Next time just pull the old part first and bring it with you to match up before you buy anything.

williamschmidt1mo ago

Yeah, that "standard size" thing is a total gamble. I had a toilet flapper I was replacing and figured it was the same one they sell everywhere, but the chain length was off by half an inch so it kept getting stuck open. Turns out the old one was from some weird 90s brand that nobody carries anymore, so I ended up rigging it with zip ties until the new one finally shipped a week later.