Thursday, February 19, 2009

All Tied Up

The topic of the day is the most important home maintenance device: namely, the zip-tie.
Sure, some people might claim that duct tape is more useful, and it certainly does lend itself well to jokes about the Force, but I have a 3-pack of duct tape that’s almost completely unused, while I’m on my third package of zip-ties.



Say, for instance, you have a hand-held shower head that leaks and sprays water in every direction but down.

Let us further hypothesize that you are unable to unscrew it from the pipe coming out of the wall without seriously compromising your 1958 plumbing and having to call the plumbers who have previously backed away from a minor project because they realized that it would rapidly become a major project.

Now, while you may not be able to change the entire shower kit, the hose and shower head can be replaced. The only hitch is that the holder for the shower head is part of the old (undetachable) piece, and the shape of the shower head has changed in the last twenty years.

You have two options. One, you could always hold the shower head in the air while showering.

Or, two, you could do this:


And the close up:



Duct tape just wouldn’t help you here, now, would it?

8 comments:

  1. I'm a big fan of the zip-tie. I recently bought a huge container filled with various colors and sizes. Plus, they make great handcuffs for when your kids won't stay out of trouble.

    KIDDING!

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  2. The plumbing gods will smite you for this.

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  3. Jeff (not my brother but another with the same name): Thank you, I will keep that handy tip in mind if I am ever again asked to babysit anyone's spawn.

    Eric: The plumbing gods disappeared along with the Lares and Penates. (Hah, I smite thee with my four years of high school latin!)

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  4. California sprung forth as a state, not a territory, fully formed, like Minerva.

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  5. K-poo: Luckily, I know what you are referring to, which makes you seem like less of a crazy person than your non sequitur would have you appear.

    Minerva, however, was not one of the Lares et Penates, as far as I can recall.

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  6. This is what I remember from high-school Latin:

    "Gaul is divided into three parts"

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