... since I had a toilet with a working fill valve.
The last time it worked was July 8.
I'd been working in the yard, mowing and bagging grass, then came in to pee.
Then it was time for a tall glass of chilled water... but I was distracted by the sound of water spurting around!
I ran to the bathroom to see water spraying in all directions from the broken top of the fill valve - oh, no!!!
Then it was hurry and shut off the water, throw a towel on the floor to keep the flow in the bathroom, mop up all the water all over that area, gratitude that the room was so small.
Exhausting!
After looking online and finding that hiring a plumber would cost at least $200, I had asked my retired brother to come and help a sister out.
The timing was bad, though, as he had just been diagnosed with a torn retina and couldn't see well enough to do the work.
Tony had grandchildren in town and his free time from work was taken up with them, so I decided to wait it out.
I would just operate the water valve when I wanted to fill the tank for a flush, that's what I'd do!
No sense to buy the channellock pliers required to do the replacement.
And so I waited.
I did purchase a kit with a new fill valve and flapper, to await another request to one of my brothers.
That was about four weeks ago.
Today, I called and said I would very much like to go to Publix for $5 sushi and popsicles... and would he please replace the fill valve in my toilet?
Yes, he would do that for me.
I made sure the toilet tank was clean and dry well before he arrived.
That was good, as it made his work less messy and quicker to complete.
After all, as a landlord of multiple properties over the last two decades and more, he's had a lot of practice fixing toilets.
After assuring it was working with no leaks, we were off to the store!
When I returned, I checked for him - still no leaks!
However, the water would run about every ten minutes - but I knew what to do.
I'd spoken to him about that flapper being leaky from back in the pandemic, but I'd not wanted a strange person in the house then.
Smitty told me how to just snap out the old one and snap in the new one, and that actually took more finger strength than I'd expected... but I did it!
Then I set the chain length, put in a water displacement container to make it more of a low-flow toilet, and it was done!
No more problems!
What a cause for celebration!
Time at last for the toilet tank lid to go back on!
(smile!)
Truly, it's the little things that matter most.
1 comment:
I forgot to mention that Smitty brought something for me: three smoked chicken thighs! He cooked them last night and, fortunately for me, my sis-in-law Mary doesn't do leftovers. Hooray!!! I had two of them for dinner tonight. Yum! Then baklava for dessert... double yum!
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