Everything and the Kitchen Sink

The new kitchen faucet went in much more simply than the toilet tank repair did.  Here it is, fully functional in under an hour, including the soap dispenser.  It comes with retractable head (powered by a weight on the cord), a pause button, a button to change it from stream to spray, and a shiny new finish.  The hardest part was scrunching myself under the sink.  I'm not sure what I would have done if I'd still been heavier.  Maybe my extra weight would have just tucked up inside the open areas.  And yes, that is a teapot from Stratford on Avon, Hemp hand lotion, a homemade ceramic bowl with a rock in it, a Marvin the Martian vegetable scrubber, and a gray wax submarine.

Unfortunately, the toilet repair did not take.  It's not leaking at all from the tank.  But I'm getting a leak in the bathroom ceiling immediately below the toilet in question.  The wall is open on the backside where the furnace room is, so I pointed a flashlight up at the water valve, and there's no leaking.  That means the leak must be under the toilet.  At least I won't have to reattach the tank.  I'll just have to reseat the whole damn thing.  I started poking under it already and it's loosely shimmed. I wouldn't be surprised if it's off the wax seal.  My hope is to tackle it before Thanksgiving so no one accidentally takes a dump in the non-functioning bowl.

 

My biggest concern isn't the sink or the toilet, though.  It's that a touched the tube of Caulk-be-Gone.  I checked.  I'm still ok.  None of the caulk in the house immediately disappeared.

Toilet II

#$$E%^#$@#$&(&*(%^&!  The toilet was still leaking, although so slowly it was evaporating off the bolt before it dropped to my safety towel on the floor.  Still, I could see the water level going down slowly in the tank over days.  So I did a lot more reading.  Despite the directions and the previous set up and the set up in both my other toilets and several online instructions, THIS set of instructions told me to avoid putting a washer inside the tank.  Genius!  So, from the tank going downward, bolt, rubber washer, tank wall, rubber washer, metal washer, nut, , bowl wall, rubber washer, metal washer, nut.

No leaks.  Not so much as a drop of condensation.  And the rusting I was getting from the metal washer being in contact with the bolt in water - perhaps a result of two disparate metals touching in a conductor? - seems to have gone away.  Interestingly, trying to keep the tank level was the trickiest part.  I ended up with a -1.3% angle.  It couldn't be helped.  the whole toilet is off by over 3%.  I'd have to reset it to eliminate the tilt and although I know how, I don't feel like doing it with the prospect of doing it a few times at the rental property looming on the horizon.  I'll practice there first.  Unfortunately, the angle is noticeable because, 1.) it's more than a bit, and 2.) the flat tank top is next to a piece of wainscoting highlighting the disparity.  I could tilt the whole bathroom a few degrees...maybe it already is, just in the wrong direction...but that seems extreme for toilet repair.

Close enough.  The bathroom is usable again.  On to the kitchen faucet.

Toilet Humor

Argh.  I'm on my third round of trying to situate the toilet tank upstairs after it started leaking.  And I still have a small leak coming off one of the bolts.  At least the first two times, it's pretty obvious that what was going on was the tank-to-bowl washer or spud gasket was slipping off the threads and finding its way down into the inlet and getting stuck.  Meaning I was both not getting a seal and forming a seal between the water and the inlet outlet (think about it, it makes sense), pushing the water out of the inlet, paste the spud gasket, and shooting out between the tank and the seat.  Water freaking everywhere.

That's resolved with a new spud gasket that's not prone to slip, but one of the bolts felt like it had a drop of water on it, and one was moist.  Meaning they're not tight enough.  But I'm not sure if they're not tight enough between the wall of the tank, or if they're not tight enough further below where the bolts go through the seat.  I'm going to hope it's the second option and that letting them sit with some water and then doing a bit of incremental tightening a few times while watching my iPhone level will get it all sorted out within a day or so.

Toilet handiwork aside.  The worst part had nothing to do with repairing it three times.  It had to do with the fact that one of my nieces or nephews peed in it while it wasn't functional.  There were screwdrivers and wrenches and toilet bits all over and still someone peed in it.  And when it didn't flush, didn't mention it.  So it sat there for a week or however long it was there and went moldy.  Gross!  Easy enough to fix with a big bowl of water and some cleaner, but still disgusting.  And I didn't realize there was a problem until a few minutes into repairs when I could smell the nastiness because I was down under the tank.

I'm off to pray to the gods of desiccation.