One thing I prayed for when I was single was that my husband would be able to “fix things”. Now, this is almost a joke to Chad because it’s days like today that I remind him, “You know what I prayed for, don’t you?”
So, here’s what happened. The toilet upstairs had been wobbling for quite some time. Yes, wobbling. If you’re not laughing, you’re not imagining being on a wobbly toilet. Let me tell you, it’s the toilet we avoided in the house.
Last night, in the downstairs bathroom, Chad points at the ceiling where a slight bulging effect was happening. Unexpectedly, his finger when right through the ceiling (he stands at 6 ft. 4 inches) and a load of wet gunk came down. Yuck.
After overcoming my initial shock, we discussed a plan of action. #1 Remove wobbly toilet and take a look from upstairs. #2 Remove the moldy ceiling chunks from lower bathroom. And finally, #3 Get our bathrooms working ASAP!
Turns out, the wobbly toilet was the problem, causing a major water leak. Our house is 32 years old and things get rusty at that age (houses, not people).
Chad found some great things from the hardware store to secure the new screws to the old sub-floor. The hardest part was getting the toilet BACK in place because it needed to fit just right onto this wax seal. It took the two of us three tries to get it on the seal just right so it wouldn’t leak into the bathroom below! Lots of junkie towels were used to sop up extra toilet water on the floor. Eeww.
So, in light of this experience, I would like to share a few tips…
- Never get rid of ‘junkie’ towels.
- If the toilet wobbles, tend to it right away (not six months later)
- Marry a ‘handy man’
Chad prefers “Mr. Fix-it” to “Plumber Guy”, I think. He spent that night and the next afternoon, with three trips to the hardware store to get it done, but alas, no wobbly toilet!
-E
