Two Girls & a Toilet

Oh what a weekend I had!!! And it wasn't the good kind. It all started innocently enough...

Late Saturday afternoon Jim told me that the toilet in our guest bathroom upstairs is leaking water from the tank into the toilet. So as not to waste water and being the "fix-it" gal that I am, I lifted the lid to the tank to see if the flapper valve (the rubber thingy that lifts up and down to allow water to run thru when you flush) is tightly shut...and it was. Since that is ok, the other thing that might be the culprit is the float arm (the ball with the metal lever). I was adjusting the lever when "CRACK!"... The whole lever with the ball broke!! Now, water was rushing into the tank and I couldn't stop it!!! I quickly turned off the water switch that connects to the tank. It did slowed the water but there was still a trickle of water still coming in so I when outside our house to look for the main water shutoff... Boy was I freaking out coz we've lived in this house for almost 5 years now and never once I thought about locating the main water shut off... I frantically called my friend Melissa (an accomplished fix-it gal, I might add) to see if she could point me to the shut off. Off course, being the pro that she is, she did...he he he...

So, after turning off the main water shutoff as well as the hot water heater, I went back upstairs to survey the damage. I know that I will need to get the whole "water refiller" (don't know what it's called) where the ball & lever was attached to replaced. It looked simple enough to do so I went to the Home Depot down the street to get the replacement. After talking with the guy in the plumbing aisle, he told me that it's better if I replace the whole mechanism in the tank so as it is all new. So, after paying the cashier US$43.93, I went home with the complete repair kit in my possession.

I got back home I found the bathroom floor flooded with water! Dammit!!! Water was still trickling into the tank even after I've shut off the main water supply...What the hell is going on? After checking that the water supply to the tank is completely turnoff (water still coming in tho), I went back outside to make sure the main shutoff is completely off. With all the strenght that I have, I turned that knob until I couldn't turn it anymore. I went back upstairs to mop up the water from the floor and lay down some towels to help dry up the floor faster.

I do have to tell you that my 2 boys were so curious with what I was doing that they kept getting in the way, a couple of times almost tripping me while I was running up and down the stairs. Jim in the meantime (being the non fix-it guy he is) tried to keep the boys out of my way, unsuccessfully of course, coz they are more curious with what I was doing to even eat their treats....he he he.

Ok back to the toilet... After reading the instructions, I started to disassemble the mechanisms. I was able to unscrew the refiller on the inside but I have a hard time unscrewing the attachment from under the tank to the water supply. No matter what I do, the nut would not budge even after I screamed, yelled and cursed at it, it still would not budge. To make matter worse, I jabbed my middle finger as I was trying to unscrew that stupid thing while water dripped from the tank onto my face (I had to lay on the floor to get to that nut).

By this time, it was already 8pm and I don't feel like going back to Home Depot to buy a fitted wrench that might work to unscrew that nut. So, I had Jim called his parents to see if they have one which they did. Since I was already too tired to do anything else, I told them that I will come by in the morning to pick up the wrench... I went to bed exhausted that night. Of course first making sure that I put a bucket under that tank so that it doesn't flood the floor again.

The next morning (Sunday) I drove over to my in laws to get the wrenches and found out that what they have is too small for what I needed. So, I stopped at Lowe's by their house and bought a fitted wrench set for US$21.67. So, back to our house to tackle that toilet...

After changing back into my dirty work clothes, I laid back onto the floor...and guess what? None, of the wrenches fit that nut!!! Aarghhhhhh... Frustrated, I started cursing at it again which scared the boys so much that they hid under the futon.

Frustrated with the whole thing and not wanting to call the plumber (they cost an arm & a leg), I decided to call Melissa... As soon as she answered her phone, I burst out crying and told her what happened. Being a good friend that she is, she came right over to help me... Phew!! Help is on the way.....

Once Melissa got to the house, I showed her what I was trying to do... she took one look at the old and new refiller and said, "The new one has a bigger tube than the old one"...Opps! so off we went to Home Depot again to see if they have the small tube...Got to Home Depot and after showing the old refiller to the guy in the plumbing department, he said, "You have a very old toilet, they don't make it that small anymore". So, after asking the guy if there is any way to unscrew that nut without actually breaking the tank itself, he told us that we could try to undo the whole tank and turn it over so that we have a better angle. He also suggested that we can try to saw it off since it's plastic...So, back to the house we went.

After unhooking the tank from the toilet and many, many grunts and curses, we finally were able to unscrew that blasted nut. After that, everything was easy....We replaced the refiller, put in the new overflow tube, replace the valve system and reattached the tank back to the toilet...yeah!!!! Told Melissa that we should open a business and call it "Two Girls & a Toilet"...he he he.

I turned the water to the tank and went outside to turn on the main water. After turning the main water and the hot water heater back on, I went into the kitchen to make sure that water is flowing... Turned on the tap and nothing happened. What the hell??? So, I went back out side and turned the main water knob somemore....I kept turning, and turning and turning and turning...nothing happened. Still no water.... I realized that I might have broke the valve in the main water line when I shut it off the day before. Shit!!!

I tried to call the HOA (Home Owner's Association) to see if the repair for the main valve would be covered by our homeowner's insurance but since it was Sunday, the office was closed. To make matter worse, Monday was Memorial Day which is a federal holiday so we won't be able to contact them until Tuesday morning. So here we are, toilet is fixed but no water except for a tiny little trickle but there is nothing that we could do except to wait till Tuesday. Plumbers cost double on the weekends and holidays and they are expansive to begin with...what to do what to do... We went over to my in-laws to take our showers and spent Monday at my sister-in-law's house for Memorial Day.

Well, it is now Tuesday morning... Jim just called me and said that the HOA doesn't cover to fix that valve. I am trying to see if one of our patients at the dentist office I work at, could help since he owns a plumbing company. Hopefully, he will give us a break and not charge too much...

I will keep you guys posted as to whether I still have an arm and a leg later on....

** Update (1:32pm, May 27)
Well, the patient at my office had one of his employees go over to our house to check the valve. Jim just called me that we now have water. YEAH!!!!!

And here's the awesome part....I still have my limbs... They didn't charge us anything for coming over and fixing the valve!!! Bless you, Randy/Danny and of course, Melissa...you guys are just AWESOME!!!!!