Because we don’t have a dishwasher, that regular task falls to me.  I don’t really mind because it makes me feel like I’m actually contributing to the daily maintenance of the house.

I settled myself in front of the sink over the Fourth of July weekend to attack the mountain of dishes, cups and other assorted items which we used while entertaining Maria’s family. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.

Then I felt something funny. I couldn’t quite figure it out at first, but realized I had a wet sock.

Did I spill a bunch of water when I dumped that last stack of plates into the water? Did I splash some onto the ground when I removed a dish to be rinsed? Had something spilled earlier, and I just stepped in it?

Notice that none of those questions even considered the fact that something may have gone wrong with the sink. Deep down, I knew that possibility existed, but since we (and when I say we, I mean Maria and some people we hired) had just finished a project to install a new kitchen floor and re-paint the cabinets, I didn’t want to entertain the thought of another big job.

Denial can only last so long, however. I peered under the sink and, after much examination, found the source of the leak. We did what normal people do: we tried not to panicked and went to the Internet to figure out how we could manage the situation until we could contact a plumber at a more reasonable time (and, therefore, rate).

I managed to get a few supplies, including waterproof tape, that night. That really proved helpful when the pipe crumbled as Maria tried to apply the first strip of tape the next day. We had a problem.

I looked at the damage and wondered aloud whether we could go get a replacement pipe and handle the job ourselves. My wife laughed. A friend suggested the same thing. She laughed again.

Home improvement does not rank among my skills unless writing a check to a skilled worker counts as a home improvement skill. Still, I thought I might be able to handle things at first glance.

The pipe “only” carried water from the sink so we wouldn’t have to mess with the water lines. I could pop the old one off, find the right one at the store and make the switch. No problem, and I stake some claim as the man of the house. The Internet certainly could guide me.

Of course, the project looked much more difficult when I took a closer look. We probably needed to remove more than one piece. And there was a hole in the cabinet which might need widening for the new pipe. My wife was, as usual, right to laugh at my suggestion.

So we contacted the plumber to take care of the whole thing, which is what I knew deep down we would do from the beginning. I just wanted to think I could really lend a hand around the house.

I guess I should stick to washing the dishes. Thanks to the plumbers, I feel relevant again around the house.