Today I fitted a new tap, or faucet, to our laundry room sink. The old, very cheap Home Depot offering had snapped off at its plastic base, so this slightly more expensive model is at least metal.

I only mention this because while I’m a passable DIYer, I am no plumber.

But this tap should have been easy to install. The existing water lines had been finished off with isolator valves so surely it was just a case of joining everything up? Well, it was, only the manufacturer made a simple job quite difficult.

There is a sleeve that fastens the tap to the sink, through which you have to pass all the water lines. Hot and cold, obviously, then the one that extends, that you have to part in order to fit the tap, so that’s four lines, and it’s a tight fit. However, the extending line has a quick release valve on it, the component that allows you to part the line, and it was so big that it had to be first line through the sleeve. The problem was that while the extending line was really long, the connection was on a short line, which meant having to push the lines through the sleeve while working behind the bowl of the sink. I looked at the instructions and of course the installation was demonstrated with a sink that was free of any walls. If only the quick release valve had been on the longer line.

Anyway, the job was completed and so far without any leaks. I even managed to connect hot to hot and cold to cold, despite the feed lines not being marked. The tap’s spray head gives out a groovy net-like spray, too, so it was worth all the effort. I’m not sure when my hands and fingers are going to forgive me, though.