Unexpected Project in the Bathroom
Has it ever happened to you that just when you had your weekend projects all planned out, your house created a little surprise for you? An unexpected emergency is one of the joys of home ownership. It happens in older homes, but do not think that buying a newer home will guarantee that something like this never happens to you. You cannot escape the house gremlins. And no, I was not referring to Crème, my little Crèmelin Gremlin!
For us it started on Saturday night after I went to bed. Douglas flushed the toilet, and the tank started filling very slowly. He fiddled around with it, but was only able to get a normal flow after he turned the water off and then back on again. In the morning, the same thing occurred for me.
We have been planning to replace the toilet with a new, more efficient one when we renovated the bathroom. However, that project has been on the back burner for quite a while now. I was unhappy to pay for repairs for a toilet that I plan on replacing soon, but there was no way around it.
We were lucky that this was a cheap fix. The only problem was that it took several hours that Douglas had planned to spend in other ways.
He was fortunate to have such a great helper. No one will ever be lonely while working on anything in our house because Crème is always there to keep you company and lend a paw when needed. She also likes to stick those paws where they are not particularly needed or wanted, but that is beside the point.
One thing to remember is that it is necessary to empty the tank completely before beginning this task. You do not want water all over the floor. Other than that it seemed like a fairly simple task. I could not really tell you what it involves because I took a couple of pictures and left to work on my own project. Come back on Friday to see what that was.
Douglas needed to replace the inner mechanism of the toilet. otherwise known as the toilet fill valve
Crème did stay for the entire procedure and says that she will explain everything to you if you bring her catnip, her drug of choice.
I hope that all is well functioning in your house. I also hope that this is the last unexpected emergency in ours for a while. I really need to get everything finished in the garden.
Happy Homemaking!
I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com
It wouldn’t have taken so long if our little inspector would have stayed out of the way! That, and if I didn’t have to go back to hardware store to get a new toilet connector hose. Our old one was a solid pipe and in process of change the fill valve, something happened to it, and it no longer sealed at the connection with the water shut off valve. Normal for those old solid pipes, which is why they now use the flexible hoses. Other than that it was a straight forward, simple install and adjustment. I was able to decrease water flow and water fill height with this new valve and we are probably using half the water that we were before. Ought to pay for itself in no time…
You are so wonderful dear husband! Thank you for doing that, inspector and all.
Water pressure — more important to life than any of us realize (until it’s too much or too little). Love that a simple fix will save the life of your ceramic friend. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
We were very fortunate that this was an easy fix. Hopefully it is the last one for a while. Knock on wood!
Oh, unexpected emergency are the rule here! The new tap I bought just happens to be a little wider than the previous one and it doesn’t fit in the previous hole… The worker is swearing a lot in my kitchen right now 😉
Don’t you love these little inconveniences? At least you have someone to deal with it for you!
Magali, that sounds all too familiar. The sink faucet in this same bathroom didn’t quite fit either when Jessica bought it. I had to grind out the holes a bit to get it. THAT was some major work. Never knew porcelain was so tough…
I love your comment about the black cat!!!! No work will ever get done without her “inspection”. We are planning to redo our bathroom this summer and wondering if Douglas would be interested in coming over to help? (HAHAHA)
Sorry, I can’t spare him. We have more projects to do ourselves! Créme might be available, though. 😉
Crème is the cutest little plumbing inspector ever! Just think how much she has learned about home projects! I still love your green bathroom tile.
D’Arcy, those are my feelings exactly, but Douglas did not agree. I think that he was ready to throw her out of the window by the time he had finished. However, that evening she curled up on his lap and purred for about an hour, and he had to forgive her. I really think she means to help.
About the green tile, I love it too. We have to regrout our bathroom this summer, and I am terrified at the thought that we will not be able to keep it if the wall behind is not in good enough condition. 🙁 It would break my heart to lose it.