The Master Plumber

One morning a few months ago the knob came off as I was taking a shower. Afterwards actually. The tap kept dripping and I tightened it too much which caused it to pop off and then a flood of water poured through the pipe. 

After getting it under control a I decided to hire the services of a real plumber as last time there was work needed on the kitchen sink it was not done exactly professionally.

He was called but then the guys from last time were called also and they proceeded to "fix" the problem.

They fixed it the good old fashioned Filipino way. With lots of glue. They jury rigged it! Actually what they did was slather the broken pieces with epoxy and smush them together. Ta-da! Perfect. Now just wait for a few hours until it dries and it can be used like normal.

That was around 9am. At 3pm I tried the tap and it promptly fell off and water was gushing everywhere. Out of sheer embarrassment I was reluctant to call the Master Plumber because I had already called him at 6:30am, scheduled his services, and then cancelled when the other two guys showed up. But he came anyway and made no mention of the earlier call and cancellation.

I was expecting him to pull up in a truck but he did not. He was in a tricycle. Of course. I should have figured.

They came at night and evaluated the situation.

The pipe would not be fixed tonight. They would return tomorrow. In the meantime the leak must be plugged so the water could be turned back on.  A stick was whittled down and hammered into the hole.

The solution was to install a new pipe fitting because the damage was too deep and the broken pipe was plastic. A galvanised steel pipe would have to be bought and fitted. They would also have to cut out the tile. The total cost? 1500 pesos plus material costs which turned out to be 650 pesos. I gave a down payment for materials and they left promising to return tomorrow.

Next afternoon the Master Plumber's helper showed up by himself and promptly set about cutting through the tile and making a huge mess. Dust everywhere all over the bathroom.

The finished result?

Beautiful huh? How different from slack job of the other two guys. Very professionally done and very nicely put back together. 

However today, two months after this situation, the new knob came off in my hands! 

What? Did I break it again? I pushed it back together but it came off again. This time I heard some shaking. What was that? I looked the knob over, took off the silver cap, and was greeted with this site:

Now I cannot imagine this screw came loose just by regular use. And if it did why would it be lying like that? How would it have managed to get into that position? If the screw had been screwed into the proper place it would be loose in that place and not looking like it was never screwed in in the first place! What else am I to conclude but that the Master Plumber or his assistant never properly installed the knob but just shoved it together?