One of the bathrooms in my new home had a really old toilet seat with cracked paint and all, so I decided I would change it. After all, how hard can it be? I started off by measuring the width and the length of the current seat and walked into Home Depot. (I'm not trying to make an advert for them, they are just the ones that are closest). I was initially worried that there might be different degrees of roundess, but to my relief there were just 2 types: the regular, and the elongated. Just to be safe, I asked a guy there how I would change a toilet seat. He pointed out that it was very straight forward and all I had to do was unscrew at the bottom. Sounds easy enough. So I go home with my new toilet seat and begin unscrewing, and all of the sudden the toilet starts leaking!!! To be more specific, it was my toilet tank. What I seemed to have done is unscrew the wrong screw - the one connecting the tank to the bowl. I didn't realize this at the time though so I freaked out and called up a friend who explained how to empty the tank. After all the excitement died down and I contained the leak, I gave up on messing around with it and left it at that. For the next 2 days I used the other toilet.
For some reason, in my mind, (leaky tank + old toilet seat) = (install new toilet) = (remodel the entire bathroom). I planned to remodel it at some point anyways. However, after my second over-the-phone estimate of nearly $10K to remodel my tiny-a** bathroom, I was appalled and decided I should do the remodeling myself. But not anytime soon. So that means I need to fix the tank. Not really sure where to begin, I started with the internet, and came across this video.
The video was only slightly helpful. I finally realized today the mistake I made only after taking a closer look. All I needed to do, it seemed, was tighten the bolt back onto the screw that connects the tank. Simple! That is, if you had any clue how to use a socket wrench. Lucky for me, I had this small but wonderful (admired by several friends) and hardly used toolbox left behind by an ex-bf so I actually had one. (Nevermind that I didn't know it was called a socket wrench at the time.) The wrench seemed to turn only one way so I figured I must tighten the other way. The bolt didn't seem to be getting any tighter so I thought, "righty tighty, lefty loosy - must be the other way." But how to get the socket wrench to work the other way? Took me a few minutes to figure out that this odd looking thing on the backside of the socket lets you set which way the wrench will turn. So now I go the other way. Darn thing still won't tighten. Then I realized the whole screw was turning with it. I had to stabilize one side and turn the other. Finally! Mission accomplished. Wearily, I turned the water back on and was pleased there was no leakage (tho the towel will stay under there for a few days to be safe).
Now that it's all said and done, it wasn't so bad. The biggest pain was trying to see under the bowl at the screw. I wonder how some of those big plumbers get back there in the tight spot. Anyhow, I have a long ways to go before becoming Ms. Home Improvement. Seriously though, if I can do it, you can do it. That will be the selling point of my book.
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