Fixing toilets
This morning Hawk and I did some handy-homeowner repair on two of our toilets. Here's a shot of her tightening the feed hose onto the regulator in our master bathroom:
These toilets had been getting harder and harder to flush recently. We'd have to hold the handle to get a good flush.
"I don't like those toilets," Hawk said some time back. "Let's replace them."
"Replacing a toilet costs several hundred dollars," I noted. "It's quite likely we can fix them with $10 or $20 of new parts."
I knew that because I fixed problems like these with my dad when I was a kid. Hawk didn't have that benefit because her father never showed her household repairs. It wasn't that he didn't fix things around the house. Actually he was/is handier than my dad. He involved her brothers, not her, because home repairs are guy stuff. Double standards, we hate 'em.
There's a difference, of course, between can fix and done fixed it. We left the task on our vague to-do list for months. It became a little more urgent a few days ago when one of the toilets started leaking from inside its fill regulator. Leaks are always more urgent to fix than sticky buttons. So we bought parts for both toilets and set aside time this morning to turn a wrench on them.
These two toilets had an old-fashing ballcock mechanism inside. Here's one after we took it out:
The tower on the left bolts into the bottom of the tank. As water fills it lifts the ball float on the right (that black ball is hollow). The arm connected to the ball rotates around a pivot and presses against a valve (at the upper right of the picture) that closes to shut off the water. That's how toilets work... circa 1950! I was surprised to find such a dated mechanism in our house, which was built in 1993. I mean, heck, I helped my dad install newer parts than this in his house in 1982.
BTW, the leak was in the plastic casing around the valve (top right of picture).
Replacing this whole assembly was an $8 kit. Plus a new flapper for about $4 since they tend to get a little loose after many years. We did this for each of the two toilets that needed updating. The other one has modern parts already... because I replaced them several years ago. For the life of me I don't remember why I didn't just do all three toilets at the same time.
One of the toilets also needed a new feed pipe. Again, it had the original equipment from 1993. The pipe was kind of a gooseneck metal that broke when we tried to move it. I knew that was going to happen so I pre-bought a new pipe- the high quality, flexible kind with braided mesh- and shutoff valve for $20. How did I know to be prepared? Because I replaced the wall valves and feed pipes on the other two toilets in the house years ago. Again, I have no idea why I decided to fix the plumbing in two bathrooms and not do the third at the same time. But after today's project all three are up to date.
Hawk tested out each of the toilets after she finished tightening the fittings and adjusting the chains for the flappers. "Wow, these flush so well now!"
Yup, it's impressive what $10 or $20 of the right parts will do.
These toilets had been getting harder and harder to flush recently. We'd have to hold the handle to get a good flush.
"I don't like those toilets," Hawk said some time back. "Let's replace them."
"Replacing a toilet costs several hundred dollars," I noted. "It's quite likely we can fix them with $10 or $20 of new parts."
I knew that because I fixed problems like these with my dad when I was a kid. Hawk didn't have that benefit because her father never showed her household repairs. It wasn't that he didn't fix things around the house. Actually he was/is handier than my dad. He involved her brothers, not her, because home repairs are guy stuff. Double standards, we hate 'em.
There's a difference, of course, between can fix and done fixed it. We left the task on our vague to-do list for months. It became a little more urgent a few days ago when one of the toilets started leaking from inside its fill regulator. Leaks are always more urgent to fix than sticky buttons. So we bought parts for both toilets and set aside time this morning to turn a wrench on them.
These two toilets had an old-fashing ballcock mechanism inside. Here's one after we took it out:
The tower on the left bolts into the bottom of the tank. As water fills it lifts the ball float on the right (that black ball is hollow). The arm connected to the ball rotates around a pivot and presses against a valve (at the upper right of the picture) that closes to shut off the water. That's how toilets work... circa 1950! I was surprised to find such a dated mechanism in our house, which was built in 1993. I mean, heck, I helped my dad install newer parts than this in his house in 1982.
BTW, the leak was in the plastic casing around the valve (top right of picture).
Replacing this whole assembly was an $8 kit. Plus a new flapper for about $4 since they tend to get a little loose after many years. We did this for each of the two toilets that needed updating. The other one has modern parts already... because I replaced them several years ago. For the life of me I don't remember why I didn't just do all three toilets at the same time.
One of the toilets also needed a new feed pipe. Again, it had the original equipment from 1993. The pipe was kind of a gooseneck metal that broke when we tried to move it. I knew that was going to happen so I pre-bought a new pipe- the high quality, flexible kind with braided mesh- and shutoff valve for $20. How did I know to be prepared? Because I replaced the wall valves and feed pipes on the other two toilets in the house years ago. Again, I have no idea why I decided to fix the plumbing in two bathrooms and not do the third at the same time. But after today's project all three are up to date.
Hawk tested out each of the toilets after she finished tightening the fittings and adjusting the chains for the flappers. "Wow, these flush so well now!"
Yup, it's impressive what $10 or $20 of the right parts will do.