A Royal Flush(er)

The toilet in our one and only working bathroom (operative word, working) is in much better shape today. The so-called professional plumber I hired last fall to reset it never really earned the phenomenal fee he charged to basically do nothing more than fit a new wax ring. That was back in early November.

I knew by Thanksgiving that the problem had not been fully addressed. But I also vowed to never let the guy back into the house. Intimidated by the innumerable possible quagmires that a somewhat faulty toilet can present, I continued to postpone the inevitable. But today, I finally rolled up my sleeves and got down to business. Turned out the crappy vinyl flooring over the crappy plywood replacement sub-flooring is so uneven that the fixture wasn't sitting level and wasn't firmly affixed to the flange. I recall our former plumber, Alan from Cleveland Heights, showing me how he always uses some ready-mix, quick-set cement to provide a sure footing for toilets.

So, off to the local Ace Hardware store for a new wax ring (with flange!), some new flange bolts, a package of toilet shims and a small container of ready-mix. Naturally, the entire project took five times longer than expected, but the end result, while not as aesthetically pleasing as anything Alan would do, is much improved. I figure we can live with the less-than-desirable appearance (and crappy flooring) until we re-do the entire bathroom sometime before the decade is out.

Two pictures: the first shows the toilet removed with the gray ready-mix setting up around the back of the floor flange; the second shows Fletcher inspecting the finished results.