LESLIE: Next up, we have Yavonne from Houston who has a poorly-installed sink.
What happened, Yavonne?
YAVONNE: It’s not the sink. It’s the faucet that my dad put in for me.
LESLIE: Uh-oh.
TOM: Oh, your dad did it, huh? (chuckles)
YAVONNE: Yeah. Yeah. They’re so closely related, right?
TOM: Absolutely.
LESLIE: But Dad, we love you. You did a great job. You helped Yavonne out. Now let’s fix it.
YAVONNE: The base – it’s one of those faucets that’s just one, single stem that comes up.
TOM: Right.
YAVONNE: And the base of it is not flush to the sink.
LESLIE: And there’s no caulk or any sort of silicone in there to fill it?
YAVONNE: No.
TOM: Is this like the kind where there’s like a metal plate that slips over it and presses down?
YAVONNE: No. I read the directions later on and it did say that he was supposed to put plumber’s putty there.
TOM: OK.
YAVONNE: So, but plumber’s putty says it doesn’t harden.
TOM: Right. Right. Plumber’s putty doesn’t harden and you usually have to caulk that spot. But the other thing, when you say there’s a gap, typically also there’s a rubber washer – like a base plate to it. Is that installed?
YAVONNE: There is.
TOM: There is?
YAVONNE: Yes. And they called it – in the directions it said a plumber’s plate or something like …
TOM: OK.
YAVONNE: A putty plate or something like that.
TOM: And that is installed.
YAVONNE: And there’s a rubber piece down there and then there’s the one that matches the faucet.
TOM: Right. And how much of a gap are we talking about?
YAVONNE: I can’t even make my fingers go that small of an amount.
TOM: Oh. Oh. Well, don’t give poor Daddy a hard time, Yavonne. (Leslie chuckles) It looks like he got pretty close. Come on. I’ll tell you what you should use. It’s OK. It’s a sink. It’s designed to be wet. (chuckles) Alright? If it really bugs you and you want to caulk it, what I would do is I would get some DAP caulk and get the DAP kitchen and bath caulk because it has an additive called Microban in it. And the reason you want the Microban is because it stops the caulk from growing any mold and it’ll stay as clean as it is the day you put it in.
YAVONNE: OK.
TOM: Alright? So get some caulk, seal it up, and then give Daddy a big, old hug and kiss. OK?
YAVONNE: (chuckles) OK.
TOM: Because sounds like he did a pretty good job. You can’t …
YAVONNE: Everything works. (Tom and Leslie laugh)
TOM: Well, there you – don’t be so hard on him, OK? (laughing)
YAVONNE: OK. Thank you.
TOM: Yavonne, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Poor Yavonne’s daddy. (laughing) She can’t even get her fingernails in there and she’s complaining about it.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) He’s going to be upset. “There’s this miniscule crack that I can’t figure out and I don’t know and I think my dad did a bad job.”
TOM: (chuckling) Your dad did a good job. Get off his case, Yavonne. (both laugh) Go get some caulk, alright? Caulk it.
LESLIE: Sometimes team work is a good way to complete a project.
TOM: Absolutely.
LESLIE: And everybody is lovingly thanking each other.
TOM: Yeah, he got you this far. The least thing you could do is caulk it. (both laugh)
Alright, Yavonne. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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