Mighty Toilet Warriors

Pilgrim · February 16, 2013, 08:40:58 AM

For some reason, the toilet gods have performed a function in my mess kit this week.

Basement toilet has a broken mounting flange on one side and has started leaking from the seal between the tank and bowl. The flange has been a "future to-do" for a month, but the leaking tank-to-bowl seal is new. Two attempts to re-seal it have failed, with the result that a corner of the basement on the opposite side of a wall now has fans going and the carpet peeled up to dry the (fortunately clean) water which has leaked out. The tank has a Sloan Flushmaster pressurized canister in it and the proprietary plastic piping leading to the canister has sprung leaks. It appears that toilet replacement and flange repair/replacement are on the docket for today.

Is Saturday the official US day to go shopping for toilets? I think w will go the dual-flush route.

And of course, dealing with a broken cast iron toilet mounting flange is near the top of the list of things I most want to do. Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.....

Meanwhile, the top floor toilet has a faulty valve and has been trickling water for three days, as I haven't had time to replace the valve and repeated fiddling has failed to turn it off. Grrrr.....I have replaced that flush valve twice in the 14 years we've been here. A trip to Home Depot led to discovery of a dual-flush adapter which I will install - choose flush 1 for liquids, flush 2 for solids. Seems like a worthwhile modification for $25, and if it doesn't work I'll install a conventional flush valve for $8.

Wish me well, friends, I'm goin' in.......

TBird1958 · February 16, 2013, 08:58:00 AM

Al,

I feel your pain! I have the worst luck with toilets, especially the black one in my master bath......
It, and the one in the basement both need their valves changed (again), maybe next weekend

rahock · February 16, 2013, 09:05:46 AM

You have to check out the American Standard that can flush something like 17 golf balls

. Keep the lid closed though, that sucker can also flush a German Shepard

.
Rick

Denis · February 16, 2013, 10:55:30 AM

When I remodeled my bathroom I reinstalled the older toilet. That bastard will flush half a birch tree.

Dave W · February 16, 2013, 10:58:10 AM

Good luck. The first generation of water conserving toilets was terrible, it's much better now. When I moved in, I had to replace the main floor toilet, bought a high-rated Eljer from Menard's -- the exact same model was carried at Lowe's as an American Standard. Moderate price, nothing fancy, single flush. It had the best flush rating so I went with it, and it flushes better using something like 1.2 gal. than my older basement toilet which must use at least 6.

rahock · February 16, 2013, 01:39:36 PM

Yeah, I had a first generation model in my old house,one of the very first. It was terrible but it was very quiet. So quiet you couldn't hear it running. That thing gave me a water bill larger than my neighbor who had a freakin' swimming pool

. I could have pooped a brick when I saw my bill

, but the damn toilet never would have flushed it

.
Rick

Pilgrim · February 16, 2013, 02:05:33 PM

Well, I'm 90% through step one - an upstairs toilet which had a leaking valve and needed a new flush assembly. I change the flush assembly to the dual-flush one, changed the valve...and while trying to snug the valve using the original compression fitting (as per advice of the plumbing guy at Home Depot) . broke the damn pipe off!!

Scrambled to turn water off while there was a geyser in that bathroom. Found that there was still enough copper pipe sticking out of the wall for a valve re-fit, so I filed the end square, sanded the copper to get a clean surface, and successfully installed a new valve to provide water to the toilet.

Now the new toilet flush mechanism is installed but the flush control portion that replaces the flapper isn't sealing right and the toilet periodically re-fills. I can sort that out later.....

Now I have the bad toilet in the basement out and need to either remove the rest of the existing cast iron toilet mounting flange or find a "spanning strip" to replace the broken out bolt mount before I can install a new Kohler. I'm researching how to deal with that flange.

Just to add the general fun, we've discovered that the water in the carpet didn't come from the toilet, but from a boxed-in drain pipe that carries greywater from the top two floors of the house. It apparently has been leaking slightly for a while, but got bad enough to notice in the past couple of weeks.

THAT is a plumber job. I'm not going to mess with it. I hope the problem is only on the lower end where we can reach it, but if not, I think we'll be opening up a wall directly above the point where the dampness is. We have determined that we can't use the master bath or guest bath sinks upstairs, nor the kitchen sink or either shower on the upper floors - fortunately we have a basement shower that drains through a separate greywater pipe. May be eating out a lot for a few days.

Oh oh....My wife just said she feels water on the back side of the pipe above the leak we saw.

Nothing money can't fix, I'm sure.

TBird1958 · February 16, 2013, 03:08:34 PM

Just remember to pick up any Errrmmmm.....questionable toys from the bathroom before the plumber arrives, if you recall I suffered a rather embarrassing visit a few years back

Pilgrim · February 16, 2013, 03:38:57 PM

Who, me? Just standing here idly, whistling, whilst shoving an inconspicuous cardboard box into the corner......

Good news - bottom floor toilet is replaced, the trick for the broken cast iron toilet flange was this spanner from Home Depot:

It slides under the cast iron flange and provides a mounting point for one of the two toilet mounting bolts.

Kohler Wellworth toilet is now in place...and it was carefully chosen, because that's a small bathroom and the shower door misses the front of the toilet by about 1 inch when it swings open. I had to get the right depth front to back or no one could get in the shower!

Now back upstairs to see what's going on with toilet #1 that won't seal.

Unfortunately, there are only two sinks in the house where we can wash hands without sending water down the offending drain line - both of them are in the basement.

Denis · February 16, 2013, 07:55:32 PM

When I remodeled my bathroom I discovered that the original cast iron pipe leading up to the toilet wasn't 90 degrees from either the concrete basement floor or the bathroom floor. Fixing the floor as I did caused an immediate mismatch between the pipe flange and the toilet. There's not way I could have ever gotten the two to match up.
So, I busted off the flange and turned it into a straight pipe and used one of those pvc adapters with clamps to run up to the toilet. 10 or 12 years now and it's still fine.

Pilgrim · February 16, 2013, 08:27:22 PM

I hear you! nice work. I got the running toilet fixed. Now on my second craft brew and watching a movie. Will have plumber here on Tuesday to tackle the leaking pipe.

Dave W · February 16, 2013, 08:56:11 PM

Good idea. You've done your part, now let the plumber handle the rest.

Pilgrim · February 17, 2013, 11:04:39 AM

My wife - who is fortunately much smarter than I am - pointed out last night that we could put a big mixing bowl in each sink that's contributing to the leaking pipe, and just empty the filled mixing bowl into the nearest toilet. Since blackwater isn't a problem, that works. Now we're just needing to avoid the showers in the top two floors, which isn't a big deal since we have one in the basement.

It was nice to put my feet up last night. Since I run a desk all week, it's tiring to spend 6+ hours nonstop fighting (as Archie Bunker would phrase it) "terlets."

Pilgrim · February 17, 2013, 01:22:47 PM

The effect must be multiplying!

I just got a call from our lead guitarist calling off practice because he has a plumbing problem - and the drummer is halfway through tearing out the master bath.

Must be National Plumbing Week!

Pilgrim · February 19, 2013, 10:30:50 AM

Not good news today.

Plumber tracked the leak in the basement....upwards to the main floor....pulled out the range on the main floor and found visible mold spreading in the wall behind it....cut out a section of the wall and found water coming from higher up, which means tracking leak upward through main floor behind the kitchen cabinets, microwave, tile backsplash, etc.

Main floor wall needs to be opened up to access the ceiling area. Mold in the wall(s) needs to be mitigated. Cabinets need to come off the wall....all to get at the leak.

Primary leak is probably in floor of top level bathroom above main floor, other leaks are possible in pipes coming from main floor.

Call is in to insurance company - fingers are crossed. I'm really hoping that we are covered for this, or it's going to be a painful check to write.