Yesterday I wrote a post on buying good quality American-made products.  After work I came home to a soaking wet basement ceiling and a leaky kitchen faucet.

Unfortunately, 18 months ago I bought a cheap American Standard kitchen faucet for about $130.  At that time, I thought $130 for a kitchen faucet was outrageous.  Now I’m wishing I paid the premium for quality.

The faucet was one of those where you can pull out the spout and use it as a sprayer.  Evidently the metal coiling inside the sprayer that protects the rubber hose inside of it split, pinched a hole in the rubber hose, and leaked water down the inside of the faucet and into the cabinet below.  From there it found the hole in the floor, and the drywall ceiling below that.

That’s what I get for buying crap.  American made or not.

I called Home Depot, where I originally purchased the faucet only to find out they don’t carry parts.  I had to call American Standard, who’s offices were conveniently closed (at 4pm Central time, no less).

To be honest, I really wasn’t interested in replacing junk with more junk, under warranty or not.  I really wanted to give the company a piece of my mind.

After cooling off for about 10 minutes, I headed back to Home Depot.  I found the nice old guy (Harold) working in plumbing, and wanted to know what he thought the best kitchen faucet manufacturer was, price not withstanding.  Spending the extra $100 would have saved me much more in drywall repair, for sure.

Kohler, Delta, or Moen was his preference, with Delta being the league leader in quality.  He even talked me through the traits that made Delta the best.

He helped me pick out a great Delta faucet, and I was on my way to the tune of $230.

Personally, I think it was money well spent, especially if I don’t encounter another leak within the next 18 months.

Interestingly enough, I just replaced both bathroom faucets in my master bathroom after they both started corroding from the outside in!  Flakes of metal were just crumbling off the faucets.

What brand were they, you ask?

American Standard.

So to MJ over at Dyslexic Research, don’t bother adding American Standard to your quality, American manufacturers list!

General American Standard, Delta Faucets, Home Depot, kitchen faucets, plumbing, quality

As I suspected the old cast iron pipe had rotted out underneath the basement floor of my rental unit. My buddy Paul (who has his own plumbing company) stopped by to take a look, and after a few swings of the sledge hammer, found the bottom of an elbow joint completely corroded out to the point where the high flow rate from the spin cycle of the washing machine was forcing water out from under the foundation and back through the stone wall of the basement.

I told him to go ahead and fix the problem, as it wasn’t something I wanted to tackle myself. Twenty bucks in plumbing fittings, and a half days worth of swinging a sledge hammer ($500 in labor and mileage from a neighboring city) and the problem was fixed. Paul finished the job by re-pouring the concrete floor he took out.

Problem solved.

At this point in time I didn’t have time to do the job myself. On top of it all, I could have ripped out all the concrete and then found I was in over my head, and the tenants would have been without a kitchen sink and a washer and dryer until someone else came in and fixed the problem.

Part of being a handyman/landlord/real estate investor is knowing what you can do yourself, and knowing what your time is worth.

This is one of those cases where I’d gladly pay for a pro to come in and do the job.

Rental Property landlord, plumbing, Real Estate, rental

Spurred by my recent plumbing problems, MJ wrote an excellent post on his blog concerning dealing with contractors, getting quotes, and following up on progress.

Anyone who’s never worked with contractors before will learn a thing or two based on MJ’s experience as a manufacturing engineer.

…any actual contractor should be able to cover all the costs of the work until it is complete, if it is a big project expect to pay 75% of the project costs when the work is 75% of the way done. In other words, the project should be close to finish at that point, and hold the last 25% for the actual project completion. -Source

I can’t agree more.

He also recommends using union labor because it is an indication that the worker has been through some sort of apprenticeship and been “certified”. I think this notion really depends on the type of job being done and of course the scale.

If you’re doing some light demolition work, union labor may end up costing you more for labor a high school kid could cost you. By in large, he’s right though, and the following rule of thumb applies to every project, regardless of scale:

You get what you pay for.

General, Rental Property contractor, labor, plumbing, unions