Our tub: a minor old-house saga

The hot water tap in our tub upstairs is dripping again. If you should USE the tub, after turning off the tap, it goes beyond a drip to a small, steady stream. It stops running if you go downstairs, turn off the water, go upstairs, take apart the tap, fiddle with the screw holding the washers into the stem, put it back together, go back down to the basement and turn the water back on. I've done this about four times this and last week.

Our tub is probably original to the hundred-and-two year old house. The tap looks new-ish, but there is no brand name on it.

After multiple trips to both Canadian tire and Home Depot and replacing washers three times, I am (on the advice of the last guy I talked to at Home Depot), taking pieces of the tap to a speciality plumbing place because he suspects it's a non-standard sized washer.

I am tired of a) turning the water on and off, and b) having to leave a screwdriver and wrench on the bathroom counter for tap disassembly.

I am armed with two labelled envelopes containing the removables parts of the hot and cold water taps, and pictures on my phone of the tub, the tap, inside the disassembled taps, and the shower head.

Wish me luck.