Is this a whole post about a toilet? Yes, it is. Sadly (fortunately?), I didn’t take many pictures to illustrate the story, so I’ll be using gifs to express how I felt during the ordeal to get this plumbing working again.

Our toilet saga started with installing a new closet flange because the original flange was cracked. Removing the flange was awful. The builders installed it with the flange’s neck on the exterior of the pipe, meaning we couldn’t really get in to cut it out. Not to mention it was primed and cemented in, making it virtually impossible to remove.

We ended up buying a slightly smaller closet flange that fit on the inside of the PVC piping (aka the poop chute – official term used in the plumbing biz). I added a flange extender kit as well (to raise it up and accommodate the new tile floor height).

I did a test run with the toilet without a wax ring to make sure it fit. Success! Except one tiny/huge problem: I made a mistake with tiling and didn’t fill in enough behind the toilet!

See the space uncovered by backerboard? I followed along the builder’s subfloor layout. But it wasn’t enough. The builder, yet again, betrayed me! Should have traced the toilet outline on the floor. Oh well.

This delayed toilet installation since I had to go back and fill a very small space (seriously, it took like 10 tiles).

Once the new tile was grouted and sealed, I carefully slid the toilet in place and secured it. I attached the tank to the bowl and went to connect the water when I realized that, with the floor slightly raising the toilet, the hose to the tank no longer reached the water inlet.

At this point, I didn’t think anything else could go wrong. Hahah. So silly of me.

I installed a dual flush kit (which we have in our master bathroom and love, plus installing is painless), got a new, longer hose, secured everything in place and filled the tank with water. No leaks! Until I flushed.

WHAT IS HAPPENING. Water came dribbling out between the bowl and tank.

So I took everything apart for the umpteenth time to locate the leak’s source. Culprit? The spongey gasket between the tank and bowl was basically dry-rotted. I guess drying out for the past two months did it in. That was a cheap fix though.

So. New flange. Flange extender. Wax Ring. More tile. New hose connection. Dual flush. Gasket. Tank to bowl bolts. The plumbing people at Lowe’s now know my name. (It wasn’t that expensive, but it added up)

The results, however, were worth it. We have a second toilet! It feels so great to have a hole in the floor covered up, finally.

And for posterity, Ryan’s going to crawl under the house to make sure nothing is dripping or leaking. That’s my worst fear – have an unknown leak that rots the wood and have my bathroom fall in. Haha.

There was a lot of radio silence last week, all toilet plumbing induced. We couldn’t post anything because we were wrapped up with this jerk! I have a post coming that will detail hanging a couple of things on the wall, and after that, it’s time for a big bathroom reveal. Aw yeah.

Have you ever worked on a project were little things just kept going wrong? Nothing major – just little thing after little thing. Tell me your stories! You can read about my good plumbing experience with the bathroom sink here.

We were very fortunate to find a sink and faucet on sale – the sink $64 (originally $108) and the faucet $49 (originally $98). Both were easy to install. It was my first time installing a bathroom sink and I didn’t have any issues.

OR DID I? There’s always a catch to plumbing, is there? The faucet came with a drain pipe which happened to be smaller than our existing piping. That meant there was no seal between the p-trap (the curved piece) and the drain pipe. My boyfriend was going to Lowe’s so I asked him to pick up whatever piece we’d need to make it work. He even took the p-trap with him to make sure he got pieces that fit correctly.

When he returned, he had a dinky package with two plastic rings – seals that go between pipe connections.

“The plumbing guy said this is all I’d need.” Uuuuhh, no. You need something to actually attach the two. “I asked him that! He said this is all I’d need!” Sorry, but that doesn’t actually seal anything.

SEE?

Not gonna cut it. The next day I tested my luck (which is definitely hit or miss in the plumbing aisles). I walked out with two adapters.

One adapter attached to the p-trap, then the other adapter bridged the first adapter to the sink drain pipe (with a proper seal, screwed on). I wish I could give you specific part names, but I’m not plumbing-savvy enough to know what they are. I just know that they WORK.

With the whole thing assembled, I finally turned the water back on, flushed the pipes, and HOORAY HAD WATER! Feel free to do a happy dance, I sure did.

I thought somewhere along the line I had made a bullet point list of things I needed to do to the bathroom, but I can’t find it. But I need the satisfaction of striking things out, so here it goes.

• Paint the walls
• Install new lighting
• Install tile floor, grout, seal, caulk, new door transition
• Touch up baseboard paint
• Paint vanity and install knobs
• Add dual flush to toilet
• Install new sink and faucet
• Install a mirror
• Accessorize (mostly purchased, not installed): Shower curtain (including rod and curtain rings), toilet paper holder, towel ring, trash can, towel bar, soap dish, shelf, pretty things
• Organize: Makeup, cleaning products, hair products
• Down the road: New ceiling fan, new shower head

Striking things out feel so good.

So, tell me about a your good plumbing experience. Have you ever nailed it on the first go? Zero leaks on the first test run?