Discussion: Hope

For you yet. Old dogs can learn new tricks, some times.

Ha! I have become quite the toilet repair person, too. I've replaced every part in most of the toilets in this house. The last job, last weekend, was to replace the bolts holding the tank to the bowl because one was leaking slightly. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the "tighten the bolts evenly so the tank sits tight," and the first time I test flushed, it was like Niagara Falls...outside of the tank! A quick search on Google turned up a video showing me exactly what needed to be done and, voila, all fixed. What did we ever do before Google??

We learned our lesson after all these many years of replacing most parts. This time we replaced all the toilets totally, and let the man do it. Enough screwing around.

Before starting a plumbing project I take a guess as to how many trips I will make to Home Depot before it's finished. Usually if I can finish the job in 3 trips, that's good, some times, it will take 5-6!

Well done Peter! I too find it a source of great satisfaction to fix stuff myself. After many years of such pleasant surprises, I now have a rule that I ALWAYS attempt to repair everything that breaks myself first, before calling a repair service. I figure my "batting average" is close to .950!

However I avoid Home Depot, opting instead for old-fashioned hardware stores. There the old guy behind the counter can usually diagnose your problem, tell you exactly how to do the job, and sell you all the required parts and tools on your first trip. I think Home Depot is more oriented toward replacement rather than repair anyway.

I love to buy tools. I figure that I'm saving hundreds of dollars and several days' wait by not calling a serviceman. Why not make the job as easy as possible for myself?

And repairing an old toilet has hidden benefits, because new toilets these days are required to use less water per flush.

...Before the 1950s, toilets typically used 7 gallons or more for each flush. By the end of the 1960s, toilets were designed to flush with only 5.5 gallons, and in the 1980s the new toilets being installed were using only 3.5 gallons. Today, a new toilet uses no more than 1.6 gallons of water in the U.S....

I've actually sold some of those old 7-gallon toilets on Craigslist for more than the new replacement toilet cost me. People love that they seldom clog, flush completely, and make a wonderful sound while doing so. They're keepers.

Oh, say it ain't so! Clark, you're flushing away drinking water! I'm simply shocked - shocked! - that you aren't using and promoting waterless toilets. What is AP coming to?

Hmm

Replacing moving parts? The only moving part on our toilet is where you shovel in the wood chips to give the buggies something to munch on.

Seriously, I'm always apprehensive about plumbing repairs, although I do them anyway. Usually when one part corrodes, the rest are likely to go, too. I once replaced a feed line to a toilet and then had to replace the shut-off valve, and then the pipe out of the wall snapped off, and then I was into the wall with the repairs. Not a pleasant day. Like Carl said, 5-6 trips to the hardware store.

Toilet internals aren't so bad. I also specialize in removing hair clogs from drains.

Repairing an old car has hidden benefits, because new cars today are required to use less petrol per kilometer.

...Before the 1950s, cars typically used 7 gallons or more for each trip from White Plains to Blue Mountain. By the end of the 1960s, cars were designed to do the trip in 5.5 gallons, and in the 1980s the newest models only needed 3.5 gallons. Today, a new car needs no more than 1.6 gallons of petrol to do the trip....

People love those reliable old gas-guzzlers. They rarely stall, they never suffer from electrical problems and the sound when you rev the engine is just exquisite. They're keepers.

I am the toilet repair queen, among other things. :)

Once I mastered the concept that not all toilets are the same distance from the wall, I have even replaced a couple of toilets myself. My favorite is the Toto in the master bathroom which ADA compliant.

Of course, it is often one step forward and two steps back for me. The worst case being when I removed a tank to do a repair. I put the tank on the deep sink in the basement on the other side of the wall from the bathroom. Picture walking out of the bathroom, walking out another room, back into another to the deep sink area. Well, as I was trying to remove something else in the bathroom, I jiggled things around enough that I dislodged a broom sitting near the deep sink, which then fell into the tank, which crashed to the floor. New toilet.

I agree with Clark. I love my small hardware store which I will go out of the way to get to, though HD isn't really that much closer. I took a hose bib stem in recently and for 95 cents (gasp!), I had the pieces I needed to put it back on - leak repaired.

My adage has become, from hiring inept professionals,
Hey, I can screw it up, why should I pay someone to do that.

Anyone would think Clark had touched a raw nerve.

Or was a hypocrite.

Yeah, definitely one of those.

Well I subscribe to the environmentalist's credo:

"Reuse, recycle, repair, reduce..."

Old stuff is not always "energy efficient" - the current PC buzz-word. But I usually opt for repairing and enjoying old things, rather than tossing them out and buying new. Here in the middle of a large American city I live in a 120-year old Victorian building I saved from the bulldozers 30+ years ago...but am surrounded by brand-new single-family houses...built on land where "tenements" stood before.

Was I wrong to "save" this tenement? Was I a hypocrite because I didn't toss out all the virgin timber, carved woodwork, stained glass, ancient bricks, towering copper parapets, and, yes, old toilets, in order to build another ugly LEED-certified house with which I'm now surrounded? But the population of my neighborhood post-gentrification, is less than HALF of it's 1950's numbers, despite the loss of many factories that used to hum up and down the street; they've all become trendy living lofts. So in the end, what is really "efficient?"

I think we can all enjoy life and still live sustainably. Living without a car and biking everywhere is an example: fun and sustainable. I try not to put on the "hair shirt" at the back of my closet too often...but perhaps I did in writing my post above. If so I apologize to Cristina, feet and ndobbs who tweaked me in their humorous and droll responses.

My intention was only to compliment PG's do-it-yourself home repair effort. Because he's kidded me so many times about me doing my own taxes...and perhaps sending in a lot more money than necessary. And I wanted to subtly point out that just as he could repair his toilet, perhaps I could figure out my own Alternative Minimum Tax...and both of us enjoy the feeling of self-sufficiency, even if it might be a bit clumsy.