It was a quiet night when I heard a scream from the basement, not sure what it was I asked “what” as I moved toward the door.
“We have a leak!” she frantically responded.
Upon review, we had a slight leak where the copper and plastic met when the water comes into the house. Well, slight might be an understatement as were putting about two inches an hour in a small trash can.
Her immediate response was to call her Dad and ask for assistance. But, I was ready to become the “owner” of my own domain and I made the decision to tackle this issue on my own – or at least with a little help from my friends.
After surveying the situation and knowing that although I’ve done a lot of (unofficial) pipe work in the past with dad, I knew this was going to be a challenge for me. I’d always worked with straight plastic none of this where they merged together. And I’m usually the grunt work man, a trait that the father and father-in-law liked to take advantage of when the project needed that little extra muscle.
Anyhow, I found myself with a lot of “ideas” and not a lot of direction heading up the street to ACE Hardware, conveniently located in Buehler’s Grocery Store on Delaware’s west side, and silently praying that they could help me.
As I entered through the sliding glass doors, Gary Cox’s friendly face smiled at me and quickly we got down to discussing my situation and how we could best rectify it. To say that I was struggling to explain what I was facing would be an understatement. Cox continued to talk soothingly to me and eventually suggested that I make the mile drive home and take some photos on my phone and come back so he can get a better idea of what I was facing.
I went home and did a little “demo” work in cutting the line and unscrewing the leaking connection and taking the required photographs. Upon return we realized that ACE didn’t stock the exact part that I would have needed to replace as constructed. But Cox – unlike those at the “big box” stores – was undaunted and continued to work through the problem with me and we did some reverse engineering to come up with a very workable alternative for my problem.
ACE Hardware's Gary Cox saved the day. (Vangelis Thomaidis/sxu)
I got home and for a mere $10 I was able to fix this problem and now nearly a week later it is still holding just fine. And I attribute that to Cox and his desire to assist me in the best way possible and making sure I had the chance to shine in this situation.
Thank you Buehlers and ACE for being open until 10 p.m. and hiring experienced and knowledgeable workers like Cox. It reminds me every time why I love shopping your store.
Buehler’s in Delaware, Ohio is located at 800 West Central Avenue about a half-mile west of Grady Memorial Hospital.
Neither Toby Boyce, Ohio Home Team, Keller Williams Consultants Realty, nor Keller Williams received any compensation for this review.
