Plastic nuts

Soft water is nice to have for appliances and what-not, but for cooking we wanted unprocessed. That's the way the cold water in the kitchen was set up anyway, so no modifications were needed.

The problem with hard water is that when it seeps, the minerals get laid down wherever the water went. Those nice plastic nuts that hold the kitchen faucet in place? They're easy to spin on and hand tighten, even when there's a sink basin in the way. But taking them off a few years later? When the mineral glue has had time to spread and harden? No way you're getting a big enough wrench in that tight a space; you have to break the nut to get it off.

Or cut it. I used what I had handy--a Dremel. That tended to "smear" the plastic rather than grind it, but whatever, it eventually got the body of the nut away, and a final hand twist "peeled up" rather than "unscrewed" the nut and thus broke it loose to the point where unscrewing was once again an option. The astute observer will notice that my elbow slipped a time or three.

Funny how it only takes a few seconds on the videos. In between re-stuffing rags so the edge of the cabinet didn't dig my ribs loose, and wedging my head in among the pipes, and standing the flashlight in place again, and reaching the tool into position--each iteraction of preparation took longer than the video.

This is the second I've done this winter. It's enlightening but not pleasant to spend time under the counter--you notice other things that are going to need attention pretty soon--like the rusty bracket that is holding up half of one sink. The Sippican Cottage guy knows what he's doing. I wish I did--time for more research...