The water won't turn off and the tub is filling up

A few months ago we had a baby emergency.  See, our home is 30 years old, (I know thats not really that old) with original everything.  Seasoned home owners probably would have seen it coming but I didn't know that when the faucet in the bathtub is really hard to turn on and off that eventually it will become impossible.  And that's exactly what happened, the water in the shower would not turn off.  Lucky for me I have a really strong boyfriend that pushed really hard and was able to turn it off.  Then it sat unused for months.  Probably 3-4.  Until last weekend!!!





I bet you're wondering why we decided now to fix it, I mean it only has been about 4 months.  What's the hurry?  Then I would roll my eyes at you and say ha ha, very sarcastically.  But the reason for ending my procrastination is that Matt's dad Allen will be staying with us next weekend.  So last week I spent a little time googleing what to do. I assumed that we would need to but a new faucet, but luckly I figured out that there is a cartridge that can be easily replaced (theoretically). I text Matt a quick message telling him where to find a YouTube video on how to do this.

UNFORTUNATELY, Matt was going to be out of town for most of the weekend.  But being the fearless homeowner I am (except for going into the basement when it's dark by my self) I thought I would give it my best try Saturday night.

So after work I took some tools up to the bathroom after shutting off the water. After removing the u clip that holds it in place I got down to the control cartridge and tried to pull it out with some pliers. It did not work. I fell backwards when the pliers lost their grip. No injuries though. I tried a few more times with no luck.


Back to YouTube. There was one video that show a special tool to remove stuck cartridges with. So off to Home Depot I went. I got the removal tool and looked at the Moen replacement cartridges and there were only 2. So I picked the one that looked like mine from the front and hoped for the best. I also picked up a scrubby pipe cleaner thing.


The instructions to remove the cartridge were vague to say the least, but the YouTube video demonstrated it pretty well even if it didn't really work out for him. It took two tries to get the thing out. The first time it only moved about an inch. But the second time it came right out.



I used my scrubby little pipe cleaner to clean the opening and turned the main water back on for a minute to flush anything out of the pipes. Then just slide the new cartridge in. After turning the water back on again I put the handle on to make sure that the hot was on the left and cold on the right. They were so I took the handle off again so that I could put the trim pieces back. If the temperature had been reversed just turn the handle 180º and then replace it right side up without turning the cartridge.

Once I had the right tools it only took about 20 minutes and that is including running up and down 2 flights of stairs to turn the water on and off.

Now we just need to clean this messy bathroom up.