Plumbing in the Mobile Home : How to Make Do When You've Got a Fixer Upper : #3 : Bathtub
66In our South Dakota fixer upper mobile home, plenty of plumbing needed repair--but the bathtub hadn't been much of a problem at all. The cheap shower head was limed almost shut, so we replaced it with another cheap shower head. New washers were installed in the faucet. A grab rail was bolted to the back wall because of Pam's need for support at times, and a shower curtain was added.
But that was all.
For several months, the tub worked flawlessly. It was a cheap plastic thing, bottom of the line, but it did the job.
Until the day Pam stepped down and her foot broke the tub, that is. My wife is tiny, just five feet tall and at that time weighing no more than 92 pounds, but the very old and very cheap tub bottom had nonetheless gone -snap!- and we had a problem. Filling a bathtub with a hole in the bottom didn't seem the least bit practical.
So...what to do?
Clearly, we needed a new bathtub. Just as clearly, we didn't have the money to pay for one.
On the good side, my sweetheart remains a world class athlete despite her many disabilities. When the tub bottom had given way, she had not continued her downward progress. As a result of her foot's speedy withdrawal, the foot was unharmed and the tub was only...okay, a sketch would make this clear.
What to do? What to do? Line the tub with black plastic? Well, we didn't have any of that on hand, either, so there!
But...we did still have a bit of clear packing tape left.
So...as a reminder not to step on the broken spot, we found a face we liked in a magazine, cut it out in a little oval, stuck it onto the sticky side of the tape...and repaired the busted bathtub with a single piece of packing tape.
Rednecks rule.
Never mind the off-center face in the sketch; I was in a hurry to get this Hub published before the Clogs to Coins Contest dissipated into the mists of history.
Did this ridiculous repair really hold water?
Yes, it did.
Okay, but for how long?
We don't really know. It held for nearly two years; we know that much. But then we moved to Montana in kind of a hurry (long story), eventually selling the mobile home at a significant loss (but garnering a bit of cash that was most timely and helpful).
The next buyer (if any) most likely found the bottom of that bathtub rather...instructive, though!
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Well put, Mike. Reminds me of a bit one comedian does about the difference between men and women when it comes to romantic relations. Roughly paraphrased, he believes a man will resist "going backward" in the type of action involved, whereas the woman will resist "going backward" in location.
That is, if the new girlfriend finds her guy wanting her to do something nasty, she can blame the last girlfriend who "upgraded" his expectations. Likewise, if the lady has had the pleasure of hooking up in a nice apartment with a comfy bed, the guy can forget about it going down in the back of his Chevy.
I think I'm gonna recommend that repair to my next customer! Don't want to buy fiberglass resin? Packing tape is only a buck a roll!
As always, I love your hubs ghost!
memories DAMN! memories
flagostomos: Thanks.
Only a buck a roll AND we had part of a leftover roll on hand!
willie: There are definitely SOME memories I'd not care to try publishing here! LOL!
Hang-on its a long ride
Awesome as always Fred. I accidently stopped following you for a few days and was going through some serious withdrawals. Glad to have you back. The best "hubber" ever.
ANOTHER laugh and a half! Thanks! Patti
I missed commenting on this one somehow. Sorry to be so rude. We didn't have a tub break that way. I would have used hot glue. And varathane (love that stuff). I was walking across the deck one night and plunged in to my thigh. Took both sons to get me loose. I had scrapes and bruises on my upper thigh for a week before they started to go.
BigEd: Thanks; your enthusiasm is appreciated.
Patti: Thanks!
Becky: If missing a Hub for commenting is considered rude, I make Danny DeVito's characters look like the epitome of refined elegance.
We had no hot glue, no doubt because I've never used the stuff in my life (so far).
That plunge through the deck sounds nasty. Good thing your sons were home.
4th of July, thirty people were there. The deck was where we had the bar-b-que. We moved it to the dirt and put the deck off limits. It got torn down the next week. Whoever had built it used the wrong boards. We re-did it.
I'd thought maybe the deck was old and rotted, but the wrong boards would surely do it.
That too, but the wrong boards were certainly a large factor. Funny thing is, they used the right boards for the porch leading to the deck.
Huh.
Yeah. Made no sense to us either.
The thought did come to me that possibly the builder had a bunch of "wrong boards" on hand and just didn't want them to "go to waste". But if there's a way to do it wrong, some dude will find it.
Old Poolman Level 7 Commenter 8 months ago
Fred, I would imagine most cavemen were perfectly happy with their cave just the way it was when they moved in. Then they had to go and start improving the place, decorating, building furniture, and all that stuff. Now, the average female half of the couple expects all these things in every dwelling they occupy. Life may have been simpler and easier for the caveman but they should have just kept the cave the way they found it.