ive been having some issues with my toilet lately. i decided a couple weeks ago that it would probably be the best option to just replace it. it worked out nicely that a week ago diana found a really cheap one at home depot, so we got it. for the past week it had just been sitting there waiting for me to get to it. last night i finally had a free night, so i got to be macho home improvement guy!i was a little worried at first, my dad always told me 'its not very hard to work on anything in your house, except for plumbing- stay away from that!', but i decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot. whats the worst that could happen? oh, i guess i could totally destroy the toilet and have to call a professional and pay tons of money to fix my ignorant mistakes... but what is life without a bit of blind stupidity, right?
i started by clearing out the area of all the extra stuff and turning off the water. after that i emptied the tank and bowl and began taking it off from the pipe in the wall. this was a challenge because i have a very limited set of tools and a limited set of knowledge about such things, so there was a lot of 'this will do', and 'i hope this works!' fortunately it did! after i undid the connection to the wall, i unscrewed the old stool from the floor. once i got it out from the bathroom i had a startling realization- i forgot to tell my renter not to flush his toilet! we share the same line, and now mine was exposed, which could cause some real stinky problems... after i asked him to 'let it mellow' for a little while, i got to work scrapping off the seal that connects the toilet to the pipe. it made out of bees wax! i was quite surprised by this. kinda cool. next i pulled out the new seal and bowl and put them into place, lining it up to the screws. i realized that i would need a new tube to connect the pipe to the tank, so i headed over to mennards for that (did you know mennards has really cheap huge canisters of cashews? me neither!). i got back and got to work attaching the tank to the bowl. hooked up the new hose, and voila! new toilet! i double checked to make sure everything was tight, and then turned the water back on. much to my surprise, there were no leaks! now came the real test: the first flush. and it past with flying colors! it flushed perfectly, and still no moisture where it shouldnt be! i must say, i felt very manly (and a bit surprised) that i could replace a toilet all by myself and have it all go well!
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