Replaced the kitchen faucet today, one handle model with sprayer. It started dripping if you didn't shut it off right, and then started leaking around the handle. I couldn't get the handle off this time to replace the cartridge. The set screw and the handle had become one, even with two days of penetrating oil. It lasted 14 years with two cartridge replacements.

You know plumbing, the job could have gone south at any step.

Have they started making the space under sinks smaller in the last 30 years or something?

The last time I went under, I requested that my wife stand by to pull me out if I got stuck.

It was a good excuse to clean it out too, with extreme prejudice. How many 1/8 full bottles of floor wax and Old English does one need?

Well that depends upon how many games of Billiards you play every day !!

Yep. I've gotta go there and then some in the next month or so. Only I've gotta go whole hog: New sink, faucet, and disposer, and because the countertop is pretty old and beaten up, that'll likely be part of the plan. The disposer died two years ago, but it never bothered me because such devices only became legal in NYC a few years ago. I "survived" without one for eight years when I lived there. But now I'm looking at resale value.

For me this is a No DIY Zone, because I'd have to hire a contractor to fix my mistakes anyway.

Before I attempt any home improvement project I'll watch through a bunch of youtube how-to videos to see if this is actually a job a can do -- if I have the right tools and the patience. Of course self-inflicted injuries are always expected ( ) but its the unexpected added trips back and forth to Home Depot that really are painful.

Watched the videos, sure I can install the new garbage disposal with no problem. I even knew when I bought the thing that I'd have to hard-wire the old power cord into it.

Watched the video, replacing the heater's thermocoupler is a visit from the professionals. Blowing up the house would be a real bummer.

I watch those videos every time I think a project might be in order. The next click is to Google for a local professional. Especially if I want my house blown up the right way.