What is it about plumbing? There’s always some leak or drip or low flow or clog or broken toilet seat to fix.
I’m a little handy around the house, so I set about fixing a couple of our plumbing issues, those dealing with the upstairs toilet, today. I needed to replace the seat and the flapper that stops the toilet from running.
What is it with toilet seats? No matter how much we spend, our toilet seats break within a short period of time. The last seat we purchased was more expensive than the previous one and had metal hinges and screws. We thought metal hinges and screws would last longer than plastic, but, alas! It was not to be. A hinge broke, thus …
Broken toilet seat, December 2010
Before putting on the new seat, I cleaned the toilet thoroughly, which will please Daughter no end.
- Clean toilet without seat, December 2010
And, voila! The shiny new seat is in place. It was much cheaper than the seat with the metal hinges because why pay so much for something that’s going to break anyway?
New toilet seat, December 2010
Next I tackled the flapper inside the toilet. Here’s a pic of the old, orange one:
- Inside tank of toilet. Note the orange flapper. December 2010.
In order to change the flapper, I had to empty the tank of its water. This entails turning off the water valve leading to the toilet and flushing until the water all drains.
Toilet tank emptied of water. Note all the brown sediment. Where does it come from? December 2010
The flapper I bought was made to go into toilets with different flushing mechanisms, so I had to read the directions and modify it for my type of toilet.
New green toilet flapper, December 2010
The back end of this flapper had to come off for my toilet, December 2010.
The back end, appropriately snipped off, December 2010.
The new flapper, inserted, with the chain hooked to the handle. December 2010.
Now that these plumbing tasks are finished, a new one has arisen. The water shut off valve has a tiny leak. What is it about plumbing?
The Woo Woo Teacup Journal 