Not every project goes as well as planned. We would be happy to spend a few minutes answering your questions.
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Repairing a lever-style bathtub drain stopper can be a challenge. Rather than doing that, you can replace the pop-up assembly with a retrofit assembly. I use a Flip-It drain stopper for this situation.
Lever style assemblies involve removing the linkages and cleaning out the insert that rides up-and-down in the overflow. This is a dirty pain. There is no easy way, and you have to phenagle the linkages out very carefully. Once you repair the problem, you have to get it back into the hole and adjust it until it holds water.
With the Flip-it, you just add the correct size o-rings and push it into the drain. You get a variety of o-rings to fit different sized drain openings. there are two o-rings that go an the base of the Flip-it. These hold the unit in place and stop water from leaking around the perimeter of the unit. Pick the right size o-rings and just push it into the drain.
On top of the unit is a small lever that you toggle to either stop the bathtub water from draining, or to allow the water to drain. They come in a variety of finishes to match most bathtub flanges, and the job should take under 5 mintes.
In my job I go into a lot of other people's houses, and consequently get to see how they live. Sometimes it's amazing. I went into a house today that wasn't bad at all, but I was surprised at how people are willing to put up inconveniences that would drive me crazy.
This customer had a bathtub drain stopper that was broken . Not a difficult job right? The thing I thought was funny was that she was using an old shower cap to plug up the drain. She would wad it up in a ball and stuff it into the hole. It wouldn't completely stop the water from draining, but it slowed it down enough where she had time to bathe. She said sometimes she would have to put her foot over the drain hole to help slow it. Too funny. She obviously was very tolerant. I wouldn't have lasted a day like that, but she had been doing this for 3 months!
I brought along a universal tub stopper kit and was done in about 3 minutes. This is a nifty product that has a stopper that fits any hole. It's gimmick is that it comes with many different size O-rings that you can replace to fit your particular drain hole. It simply pushes into the hole and the O-rings stop the water from draining until you throw a lever to drain the tub.
The customer was very happy, but I think she thought it would be a big project. Three months of suffering with short baths, when all it took was 3 minutes for this Las Vegas handyman to repair it.
