Week One - Toilet

One week after we moved in, we found a small puddle on the basement floor directly under the upstairs (master) commode. I believe the first words out of my mouth were "Oh, F!#&". Pulled the biffie and while the original cast iron curtain ring (which is leaded onto the original iron pipe) was intact - no obvious corrosion, the wax ring was evidently buggered. While trying to remove the 2nd stem bolt (in Oregon, and only in Oregon, the curtain rings had 2 or 4 holes tapped into the curtain ring into which you thread your stem bolts to secure your throne) it snapped off. Extraction efforts, including a blow torch didn't work. So, my father and I set out to mount a replacement (steel) "Super Ring" over the old cast iron. That required (according to the directions on the "Super Ring") drilling and tapping new mounting holes directly onto the old ring. No problem, once Pa brought his DeWalt hammer drill and tap set. There was some profanity involved, but he got the new ring mounted on the old. Two shiny new stem bolts sticking up ready for the Porcelain Goddess.

I go to plop the toilet down on the new wax ring & bolts and ...ugh. Bloody thing wouldn't seat. Turns out the nice little flanges on the "Super Ring" (for mounting to your sub-floor, should you have a plastic and not cast iron ring) are too wide for the toilet to sit flush on to the wax ring and for wax splooging to occur.

I knew our local hardware store was a) closed, and b) wouldn't have what I needed, so I hit the road and drove 40+ miles to Home Depot for a better solution. $80 and 80 miles later, I'm home again with a Very Expensive dohicky* to fit into the pipe and over the old ring. We'll see if this works, eh?

I'm doubly thankful for a Father who is a) handy, b) generous with his time, and c) not getting Old Man Cranky Pants over this. Also, the 2nd "bathroom" in the basement. It's nothing more than an ancient toilet and a newer sink in one corner of the basement w/ a privacy screen, but it's better than pissing in a 5 gallon bucket with kitty litter.

We won't discuss how Johnny wandered into the Master Bathroom last night and peed in the disconnected toilet, yet some how neglected to flush.

*One simply cannot drive that many miles, and only buy one $16 plumbing fitting. I picked up some other stuff that was needed for The House, as well.