Last week I extolled calling a professional concerning my front porch. The stucco guys weren’t the only professionals I called upon last week.
The story of my “privy” is a long one. When I moved into my house 30 years ago, the lid on the bank had been previously broken in 2 places and glues back together….badly. The glue had been liberally applied and the excess, which had yellowed, had not been wipe off. It looked so awful that I always draped a towel or napkin over it. A few years later, it got dropped and broken again, this time it couldn’t be put back together again. Luckily YA, Child back then, found an exact replacement at Architectural Antiques downtown.
I had learned early on to changed out the tank ball; it needed to be done every year or so. I also installed a new fill valve several years back. So when the trip lever broke about a year ago, I figured it would be a quick fix. Wrong. I won’t go into the excruciating detail, suffice it to say, it went from bad to worse and we ended up having to jiggle as we flushed and then jiggling again after the ball dropped. Sometimes twice. I’ve probably spent 40 hours in the last year trying to adjust, replacing levers, replacing the ball. Awful.
I was pretty sure what the plumber would tell me, but when he showed me what was contributing to my issues and talked through the repairs, I knew that I had been right to expect the worse. He came back two days later and voila – a new throne! It uses less water, fills faster and does its job better. I almost wish I had replaced it years ago. YA is reserving judgement as it’s taller than the old one.
Toilet paper – over or under?
Trail Baboon 
Over.
New toilets sell for $100-$200 and are fairly easy to replace. Ours also had a crack in the tank, or bank if you prefer, and that made me nervous that one day it would let go. In choosing a new one, I selected a model called “The Diplomat” because why wouldn’t you? I put another Diplomat in Robin’s upstairs studio.
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The names of toilets are quite funny. The first one he recommended was the Viper. I said I just could not plop my butt down on something called a viper. And then there was one called the avalanche which made me laugh. I suggested to him that there should be a toilet named the eliminator. He thought that was very funny. We ended up with a Maxwell.
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Snort – I was going to mention the bank, but now I don’t have to.
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Under. Low toilet, high t.p. holder – just seems to make sense to me.
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Laat Friday the contactor came to get an idea of what we want in terms of a bathroom makeover in the master bathroom and a simpler upgrade in the basement bathroom. We will add 45 inches in length to the master bathroom. It will be a total redo. The basement tub will get a new surround and liner that fits the old tub like a glove. We have wanted to do this for more than 30 years, and now is the time.
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Where do you get the 45 inches, Renee?
And tell me about this liner that fits the old tub like a glove !
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The bathroom wall abuts the garage. The builders of the house made a storage space 45 inches deep in the garage. We are extending the bathroom into the storage area in the garage.
Tub liners are made to fit all tub types and brands and styles. Our basement tub is harvest gold and is a Kohler tub. The liner makes it unnecessary to rip the old tub out to change the color.
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you’re nuts
you’re leaving in 3 years and the new cost won’t add a dime to the house
put the 25k into your final landing place
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Since I missed the weekend discussion, best wishes for good health and a quick recovery, Ben!
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Thanks!
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Over.
Many years ago I remember mom and dad doing something to a bathroom downstairs and they had moved the toilet into my bedroom, just to be out of the way. As a kid I was excited about having the stool right there in my room. I was informed that no, I wasn’t getting a toilet in my room.
Curiously, while I’ve done a lot of repairs to toilets, I’ve never had to install one, with the wax ring and all that.
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Rise and Seat Yourself on the Throne, Baboons,
Over the roll.
The contractor who remodeled our kitchen complained bitterly about the quality of our toilet. He thought it was too low, and the flushing mechanism which had been replaced many times required the flusher to hold it down until satisfied with the flush. He told us that he would go home from working on our kitchen, use the potty at home, and continue to hold down the lever. We knew we needed to replace it. That particular throne had been in place for 17 years. So we hired him to replace the inadequate throne since he was in the house anyway. I do not know the name of this particular model, but we had the same laughs you all are referring to as we perused the choices. I really thought the only name that mattered to me was “The Big Flush.” But that one did not exist.
When I was born in rural Iowa, there were not indoor toilets uniformly. Old farmhouses tended to have outhouses. These old houses were not plumbed, so there were chamber pots for the toilet and water urns in the kitchen. My grandmother’s kitchen had a pump in the kitchen by the sink with one simple pipe running to it. Mom always said that the worst chore assigned to anyone was that of carrying the chamber pot to the outhouse to empty it. But outhouses did fill up. Rather than replacing the potty, the farmer identified a private new spot in the yard away from heavy traffic and dug a large pit to fit the outhouse, then with the tractor, drug the entire outhouse over the new pit.
After my parents were married they moved to the “Golden Farm” (the name of the family who owned the farm was Golden). They did not have a map of former outhouse locations. So they plowed a garden which was extraordinarily productive for them that year, especially the tomatoes. When the landlord visited them, he informed them that they located the garden over the filled pit of a former outhouse.
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Great story!
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Agree with Bill. They are not that expensive and not very hard to install but people are slow to upgrade them. Wax ring is easy to do.
They gave them names? Was it on the box?
The building would install elevated toilets if I bought them, which we did 11 years ago.
Over the top on the roll of course . We used to have a guest stay at our place who would switch it. And reorganize the kitchen.
We got indoor plumbing when I was 11 or 12. But we kept the out house because it was handy not to go into the house when we were dirty in various ways from various jobs like haying. It had a cement floor, was clean and had little odor.
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OT – next Blevins (Blevins page also updated)
Dangerous Straits
Our Own Chris Norbury
&
Midnight Riot
Ben Aaronovitch
Sunday, July 17
2 p.m.
Jacque & Lew’s
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Both. 50/50 chance.
I’ve had far too many ugly toilet situations. The seal breaks and begin to stain the floor or worse, stains on the ceiling. “Something is rotten in Commode”.
Problems with which I’ve contended some of which are easy peasy for a plumber.
Rusted bolts that must be sawn off. I’ve had to use a small hacksaw.
Removing the water by dipping. Ugly business but if not done the water can siphon itself out in most inappropriate places. (Experience)
Posture in picking up the toilet. Bending over while lifting can be painful (Experience)
Securely setting it outside the bathroom. The threat of tipping over or someone USING it (yes, experience) is there.
Totally rusted collars that must be replaced. Calls for trips (plural) to the hardware store
Cutting out rotten subfloor. Ugly business.
Rebuilding floor joists and subfloor. Flooring repair is like a box of chocolates.
Install new vinyl in 1 hour. A whole day just to get to that point.
Get the seal on correctly the first time..Get the seal on correctly. The wax ones don’t give you a second chance (Experience)
Connect the water supply. Check for leaks. Check for leaks. Again.
This is not an exhaustive list. Unfortunately.
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The Voice of Experience.
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Boy, I’ll say – you could teach a class, I bet, Wes. : )
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Many of these experiences arise from using the existing toilet.
Rusted shutoff handle.
New floor is higher, even by half an inch, calling for new water intake hose. (Trip to hardware store)
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i love bathroom stuff
toilets sinks tubs fixtures all are easy for me to appreciate
like pans and knives clothing and tools the good stuff makes a difference
that book that was a big hit for a while about sparks joy talked about getting rid of still the you don’t love
it’s hard to do but makes choosing a shirt for the day more enjoyable and you appreciate your cookwear and tool box
i had ari throw a toy down the toilet and keep it from flushing properly for a long enough period of time that it was obvious i had to take the toilet out to see what the heck was going on
i didn’t know it was a toy until the toilet was off and even then it took me a while
i had a plunger that didn’t fix the issue so i tried a snake and that didn’t do it so i took the toilet off to check the hole and in turning it over to jockey around with it the toy fell out while i wasn’t looking
i checked the hole in the floor replaced the ring and went to check the toilet chute itself which was amazingly clear
i scratched my head for a minute and then saw the toy on the floor ari had thrown in there
flipped the stool back hon the studs on the floor and reconnected the water total time 40 minutes
sinks and cabinets that hold them kind of define the room
emma the youngest chicago daughter is moving at the end of the month and the only firm condition the place had to meet was a tub
a bathroom without a tub is like a kitchen without a stove . showers and microwaves do the trick sort of but will never stand alone
my over under proclamation are meaningless because i won’t remember
our kitchen cupboard discussion must have been a spirited discussion at one time because i voiced an opinion on whether the glasses should go up or down and debbie informed me we do it with glasses up because i had been so emphatic about it when we initially had the discussion
those new toilet seats with the heated seated heated water and bidet are very cool and easy to install and down to $100 retail wher a decent regular toilet seat is more than 25 so you can make a huge change for a couple bucks there too
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We’ve had one of those bidet toilet seats for about six years now – we recently had to replace the first one. I’d like to know, though, where you can find one for $100. Ours, on sale a Costco, was $300, and, I might add, worth every penny of it.
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Kelly got a Costo bidet for Christmas, but it’s not electric, just water, and it was only about $50. Bonus because we have warm water at the toilet. If it was cold, it might not be the bargain it was…
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“a bathroom without a tub is like a kitchen without a stove” – words to live by.
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Usually the paper is oriented to roll in a forward direction. I have employed the reverse, though, when I’ve had pets who demonstrated a proclivity for overdispensing paper for their own amusement.
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I agree. It depends entirely on your cats propensity for unraveling and shredding toilet paper. Martha has zero interest in it, so I can hang it however I like, and it’s easier to dispense when it’s over. But having a bidet toilet seat, who needs toilet paper? (Just kidding)
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Snort! to both of you.
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