Grump
I feel bad grumping after a wonderful four-day weekend, involving a delightful Thanksgiving dinner at plumtreeblossom’s, wonderful friends, seeing Beowulf, and all that, especially given that I’ve been posting so little lately.
But I have no toilet.
Well, that’s not quite right; I have a toilet. I just can’t flush it (except with the “bucket of water” method).
See, my toilet tank was a really awful low-water-flow-retrofit design to start with. This did not actually save water in practice. So I'd been wanting to replace the mechanism for a while. On top of that, lately it’s been leaking really badly. But I didn’t want to start messing with it while I had a renter in the house, just on the off chance I messed something up and we were without a working toilet for a few days. I felt kind of dumb about that, because how hard can it be to repair a toilet? But I’m really glad I waited.
See, the old bits were fragile and corroded, and I broke some of them while taking them out. But the bolts that hold the tank onto the toilet bowl, while not fragile, are also corroded, and I can’t unscrew them.
I would try WD40, but it’s 10pm on a Sunday, so there’s no place open I can get it. (And I don’t really feel like going out anyway.) Anyway, that’s the plan (along with a more appropriate screwdriver - the slot in the bolts is almost an inch wide). And if that doesn’t work, I guess I’m looking for bolt cutters and a drill bit appropriate for drilling out the bolts. Only in using those I’d be likely to crack the porcelain, I suspect.
Thursday and Friday were really lovely, though!
(Oh, did I mention there’s some foul stinky black gunk in the tank, too? The weird low-water-flow mechanism meant that there were some spots in the tank where water never really moved, so I think it’s just 10 years or so worth of bacteria. I am very glad I started this project with gloves on.)
But I have no toilet.
Well, that’s not quite right; I have a toilet. I just can’t flush it (except with the “bucket of water” method).
See, my toilet tank was a really awful low-water-flow-retrofit design to start with. This did not actually save water in practice. So I'd been wanting to replace the mechanism for a while. On top of that, lately it’s been leaking really badly. But I didn’t want to start messing with it while I had a renter in the house, just on the off chance I messed something up and we were without a working toilet for a few days. I felt kind of dumb about that, because how hard can it be to repair a toilet? But I’m really glad I waited.
See, the old bits were fragile and corroded, and I broke some of them while taking them out. But the bolts that hold the tank onto the toilet bowl, while not fragile, are also corroded, and I can’t unscrew them.
I would try WD40, but it’s 10pm on a Sunday, so there’s no place open I can get it. (And I don’t really feel like going out anyway.) Anyway, that’s the plan (along with a more appropriate screwdriver - the slot in the bolts is almost an inch wide). And if that doesn’t work, I guess I’m looking for bolt cutters and a drill bit appropriate for drilling out the bolts. Only in using those I’d be likely to crack the porcelain, I suspect.
Thursday and Friday were really lovely, though!
(Oh, did I mention there’s some foul stinky black gunk in the tank, too? The weird low-water-flow mechanism meant that there were some spots in the tank where water never really moved, so I think it’s just 10 years or so worth of bacteria. I am very glad I started this project with gloves on.)