I decided since the blasted thing needed to be replaced NOW I would just have to replace it now and remove it in 3 or 4 months when I remodel this bathroom. It's weird how things in this house have a way of breaking just prior to me remodeling that room.
I bought one of the new dual flush technology, low flow toilets. I figure my old toilet was using between 3 and 5 gallons per flush and this one is using .6 gallons on the one flush and 1.2 gallons on the second style flush. Another step towards greener living.
As with any project in this Old House it didn't go smoothly. In the list of things I've learned while rehabbing I can now add cast iron plumbing and flanges. The place on the flange where the closet bolts was to go was broken. On a side topic do they call them closet bolts because toilets used to be called water closets? A previous owner, I'm assuming it was the same person who installed the aqua colored toilet, found a workaround.
After pricing a plumber to replace the flange, and finding that the three local hardware stores did not have the one thing that would work with a broken cast iron flange I decided he was pretty clever and I'd use his fix, at least until I remodel this room.
Someone asked me how I figured out how to do this and I said, Well, first I went to YouTube and watched a couple videos of men replacing toilets, then I went to a DIY site and printed out a set of instructions, and THEN I actually read the info that came with the toilet.
What I didn't tell them was that it took two days to do a 2 hour job. One of the old bolts was so rusted and cruddy that even with PB blaster and some arm breaking work it wouldn't release so I had to use my wonderful little rotozip, with the correct attachment of course, and cut that baby off.
That, in itself took a couple hours what with having to stop, stand up and stretch, and return to the crazy position necessary to reach the bolt. Talk about head rush! I think half the time I was working blind, which was a scary thought. We all like to see our toilets placed in these nice cozy cubbies but man are they hard to work in.
With the workaround the nice shiny new closet bolts had to be installed from underneath the metal opening. This I actually knew how to do. In my career I've fished enough computer cable through walls and ceilings to have no problem on this scale. I found some fishline and a paperclip and it took no time at all to get the closet bolts in. I secured them with an extra washer and nut since they were slightly below the flange, this also served to hold them in place so I didn't need to fish them through the toilet holes.
The installation of the base of the toilet was a cake walk as my mom would say. I knew how to do that much, I had to remove and replace the loft toilet when I remodeled that bathroom.
BUT, here's where I added the extra day to my installation. I had a horrid time with the tank and gasket. The tank was not level, it was too high, it slanted, and I could hear porcelain rubbing porcelain. Of course it's a Sunday evening so no support is around. I had to leave it half installed and deal with it Monday.
Monday the gentleman at the hardware store showed me what I was doing wrong and introduced me to another helper product -- silicone grease. I will mention that when he disassembled his toilet and tried to reassemble he had exactly the same problem I did the first time he tried to put it together. That was funny-- and made me feel better.
You can see how much smaller the new tanks are, and the lovely little space I had to work in.
Well, emergency maintenance accomplished, I need to get back to the outside work. I need to get some things done before snow flies. I'll be working this weekend on stripping, re-glazing and painting one of the three old windows I've decided to keep in this house. I also plan to build an old-fashioned wooden storm to go with it.
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