35 year old man I'm seeing doesn't know how to plumb a washing machine in. Would this be a turn off to you?!

[yourcolourgrey]

This made me feel weird about him. Completely over the top, I know. But does anyone else think this is un-sexy? Or is it just me?

I've been married for 3 years and have no idea if DH can plumb a washing machine in or not! Unfortunately we've never owned a property so it has never come up. I'm guessing he'd give it a go/YouTube it as he does with all jobs he's never previously learnt how to do. Or I would, depending on who was at home at the time the washing machine was delivered (as I don't think connecting a washing machine is purely a man's domain is it?!). I'd be pretty upset if I found out DH was on a forum claiming my lack of ironing ability (for example) made me unsexy though. And I am actually shit at ironing.

I do like DH's practical capability. I daresay he likes the same thing in me.
My first husband was a diy numpty and I had to be his mum, dad and wife. Was very tedious.

Hmm, it's not the same as not being able to bake a cake, more like not being able to boil an egg, load a washing machine or change a lightbulb, as in a fairly basic life skill. I would have said, like wiring a plug, but that's not necessary now (shows age).

I'd possibly give it a second thought as in - 'have you really not plumbed one in before?' but only because I've done it loads of times. It certainly wouldn't effect any attraction towards him.
There's many things I've not done on my own before - changed a tyre or successfully baked a perfect sponge cake for example.

Plumbing in the washing machine has to be done when you move house and when you get a new washing machine. It's not an every day essential skill and it is an extremely bizarre attribute to wish for in a man! Also it would take a few minutes for him to learn how to do it so I'm sure if that's really what you require from him it can be arranged! But you know you use your hands to do it and not your willy so you could just as easily learn yourself.

MrsBert

Cleaning out the sink trap is probably the thing you learn right after discovering why you don't pour chicken fat down the sink because I never did that, nope, not at all

Do you darn his socks?

what is a sink trap please? Never heard of it.

Under your sink, the pipe sort of comes down and then bends back up, like a u-bend. You can take the U bit off because there are two big screw-thingies (technical term for you there). It's where all the crap tends to end up and if your sink gets blocked, it's a ten minute job to take it off, wash it out and see if that fixes it.

Oh ok - so by sink trap you just mean the U bend?

Never heard that term before. And never needed to clean it or heard of anyone who has actually. Although I have a waste disposal unit so don't really chuck stuff down the main sink though anyway.

Yes, it's another word for U-bend, sorry. I guess a waste disposal would make it more complicated. I've cleaned mine out a few times. Once or twice when chicken fat has been poured down the sink, and when the washer was draining into the sink it got clogged a couple of times. It's handy to know, much cheaper than a plumber.

Why is the OP being sexist? I would judge anyone who couldn't do basic DIY (and basic cooking). Why does it have to be a sexist issue?

I guess a waste disposal would make it more complicated.

No I don't think so - the waste disposal unit doesn't mean there isn't a U-bend! I have a u-bend. The waste disposal unit joins up with the main sink pipe post u-bend.

I don't get the lack of plumbing ability being unsexy! I am very self sufficient and will have a go at most things I would like a partner to do similar.

If my partner couldn't kiss well or couldn't fine my clitoris, yes, unsexy. Plumbing ability, what the heck has that got to do with sexiness?

I suppose it depends on what gets your taps running thornrose

Fair point, a functioning washing machine wouldn't do it for me.

it's a ten minute job to take it off, wash it out and see if that fixes it.

But dont wash it out in the sink that you are unblocking, word to the wise.

Lamb fat went through my plug twice and all over the floor before I worked that one out

Also, solidified fat can be got rid of with copious amounts of boiling water, which melts it and washes it away and makes it someone elses problem

I have plumbed and unplumbed a few washing machines, and there are two kinds of plumbing in a machine:

1. When the pipes are there, with the little taps on, and no problems such as being rusted stuck: 10-minute job. (The "plumber" that Currys or Comet sends round to deliver the machine can just about manage this. I once had their man declare the job was impossible because a spanner was needed to close the valve to remove the old machine.)

2. When the pipes for the machine are NOT there; or they're rusted stuck, or the little tap is one inch too far away, or if the plastic handle of the little tap turns but the metal underneath doesn't, or if some idiot has put the little tap so close to the wall you can't actually connect the hose to it, or if the existing waste pipe system is so old you can't get replacement parts so a whole new waste pipe system has to be built under the sink in limited space, etc. etc. etc. Sorting these out is a job which takes a lot more than 10 minutes, a trip to the plumbing shop, a lot of patience, and preferably some professional skills.

My parents' first washing machine wasn't "plumbed in" as such: you connected the hoses to the ordinary hot and cold taps (if the taps were the old-fashioned rounded sort, as opposed to modern kitchen taps), and you hooked the drain hose over the edge of the sink. However in those days the machine wasn't supplied with a plug, you had to put that on yourself.

As for my grandmother's washing machine: that was a twin tub, do everything by hand: put in water and soap powder, turn machine to "heater" for a few minutes, then turn to "motor" to run agitator for a few minutes (no revolving drum), pump out water, put in clean water for rinsing, pump out again. She kept it going for 35 years! (Appliances were built to last in those days.)

I have no idea if DH can plumb in a washing machine or not. It's not come up in 15 years. I know I can't if that's any help. Is it really a basic life skill?

If he's a plumber it would be weird.

Couldn't care less. Most people can learn stuff if they have to but I'm completely useless with my hands myself so wouldn't find dh pulling out his big hard phone and asking the handyman to slip round and poke it in anything other than hot hot hot.