Plumbing 101

This morning I called our semi-permanent (at least it seems that way lately) handymen and told them that the toilet had become a crisis. They had adjusted it back in June, which temporarily fixed it. Then when we came back from vacation, they adjusted it again, which fixed it again, temporarily. In the meantime, it got worse. They had looked at it and tried out one part, which didn't fit. In the meantime we turned the water off to the toilet and just turned it on briefly to flush. Yesterday, though, when I turned the water back on to flush it, the water wasn't filling in the tank AT ALL. So, to flush the toilet, I had to fill a bucket at the tub and force-flush by dumping water in the bowl. Not fun. So, I told the guys to fix the toilet pronto - much more important than staining the house today. Well, they drove around town evidently looking for the piece to fix the toilet - evidently they don't make this design anymore. They finally arrived around 11, fiddled with the toilet for a while and declared it fixed. Then they said it "looked like rain" (um, its summer here, the forecast is almost always scattered afternoon thundershowers), so they went to get more supplies for finishing up the staining. They were gone by noon. I don't know how they get anything done with these sorts of hours. Every day its a different reason why they get here late or leave early. It must be nice to have that flexibility, but its hard to get things done.

When I went in to clean up/check on the bathroom, I found some water on the floor. OK, they said it dripped some - to be expected when the had to remove the tank. I wiped up the water and then heard the drip. Oh, dear. About one drip per second. I put a container under the drip and went on with my day. When I checked back 2 hours later, the drip had filled a 24 oz cottage cheese container. Oops. Can't leave it that way overnight. I scrounged around and found some Tygon tubing and rigged it up to drain into a big bucket (bucket won't fit directly under the drip). Then I called the guys back and told them they would need to deal with this in the morning - they think its just that the bolt isn't tight enough, but that you have to be careful with porcelain - so, I'm not getting in there with a wrench. I'm beginning to think I should add their number to my speed dial!