Category: Home Improvements

Tomorrow is the big day. I’ve been wanting to install a new toilet for quite awhile, but the current leak in ours has gotten so bad that it needs to happen soon. So after a quick run to Lowes I got a new bowl, tank, seat, and wax ring. I’ve been procrastinating this task long enough, primarily because for me, plumbing tasks tend not to turn out the way I’ve planned and always take way longer than they should. The other down side is my house only has one bathroom and 5 people living in it. So when I start, there is no stopping until it’s done which adds additional pressure.

Oh well, I will be starting tomorrow shortly after everyone is finished getting ready and not stopping til it works. Wish me luck!

Update 1: [10:30am] Things so far are going pretty good. The old toilet is removed and the old wax ring mess has been cleaned up. I did a through cleaning on the floor as well. I’m letting everything dry before I start putting the new toilet in place.

Update 2: [11:45] New toilet is in place and assembled. Just ran a little water in to it to test for leaks.

Update 3: [12:23] Project complete. Everything is back in place. All potential leak areas have been checked and double-checked and not a single drop anywhere. Tomorrow I just need to give a little snug on all the bolts, and silicone around the base.

Well, I actually had an agenda this weekend. It involved replacing the faucet and drain system on our bathroom sink. Also it it’s been draining very slow, so, while everything was apart, run the snake through and clear out any blockages.

Now for some people this project should be mostly painless, me, on the other hand, it’s a different story. Me & plumbing never seem to get along very good. And this project was no exception.

I’ll save you a lot of the boring details, and just say, 3 trips to Ace and 1 to Menards, many hours, and a lot of cuss words later, the new faucet and drain are in and thus far are leak free.

On one of my Ace trips I picked up a couple of new 3-way light switches, because our switches in our kitchen have been acting up lately and I’ve wanted to change them out. I did that little project this morning and it went very smoothly. I’ve never worked with 3-way switches before, but it really was no big deal.

Photos: http://www.cdavis.us/photos/v/album09/album08/