Today was Plumbing day.... See today was the last day of School for my eldest before she graduates. That means that today was the last day I would have the whole house to myself... And since we only have one bathroom it was the best day to tear apart the toilet to fix it... the flapper assembly had gone bad. I've done this before and I figured that now that I know what I'm doing (famous last words), it wouldn't be an all day job... you can start laughing here folks.

The water shutoff to the toilet tank was the first omen... It tried to refuse to turn all the way off. Good thing I have lots of buckets and old butter dishes to set under things... then had to move one to the bolts that attack the tank part to the seat part. Can any one say "rust" since they were the ones that I had to loosen the last time the flapper thingy went bad. I think they may be original to the toilet but I'm not sure - this was here when we bought the house 23 years ago. (there is a date stamp in the toilet - 1974 which is the approximate year the house was built) The first one was a bit of muscle but I got it off... The second bolt decided to disintegrate - at least where the screw driver slot was. The nut was nicely rusted tight... Wiggling, cursing, screwdrivers, visegrips, WD40, and 2 hours later, I had it loose enough to slide a metal bladed keyhole saw between the tank and the seat portion so that I could cut the dang bolt off - now I hadda make another trip to Lowes for new bolts since they don't come in the flapper assembly kit... The plastic bolt that helds the old flapper assembly refused to come loose... Well, that is what Dremels are made for. Now I remember the last time I did this I discovered that Plumbers putty was necessary for the toilets bolts not to leak so I HAD gotten some new of that so the reassembly resulted in...Tada... the leakage from the rubber seal area of the FLAPPER ASSEMBLY. Turn water back off (really looking forward to actually USING the toilet now and besides the eldest was home and needed to go also...) to once again remove tank and this time I use the plumber's putty around the base of the flapper assembly. It is now 5 1/2 hours later and I have a working toilet. Next time it will either be a real plumber or Mr. Sledgehammer which will necessitate the buying of a new toilet... On a side note, bet you all never knew that keyhole saws and Dremels were necessary plumbing tools did you?

Of course the sun was shining the whole time I'm stuck in the bathroom with tools and bits of toilet spread everywhere. The minute I step outside and start the weedeater in prep to mow...BOOM! Thunderstorm hits, like immediately. *sigh*