So THAT'S Where All The Water Was Coming From

We've had wet floors after showers the past couple of weeks.

We initially blamed careless usage of the shower-curtain or the old and stiff curtain itself.

Being more careful with the new, supple curtain didn't cure the issue.

Today I noticed that there was water dripping from the single-valve thingy.

It uses the dreaded Moen cartridge.

You don't have to search for long to find a removal horror story.

I read the online instructions and got mine out.  P/N 12801 which is the same as the more commonly found 1225.

When I tried to get the new one in, it stopped about 3/4" of an inch from seating.

The new part had a metal part flush with the back of the plastic sleeve.  The old part had a cavity there.

Assuming that something was still in the valve body, I probed carefully and got no movement.

FUCK!

Called a plumber.

He looked in the valve and agreed that it looked like there was something up in there.

Turns out it was just the very end of the slider part of the valve rubbing copper onto the brass.

The difference between the flush and cavity was the position of the slider in the sleeve.

The part that I ended up paying a professional for was learning how much force is needed to get a new one to seat.

Happily, he only charged me for the service call, not any work.