We have five guys, four trips to the hardware store, and one toilet.

My dad finally decided to have the cracked and popped tile replaced in his master bathroom. Naturally, the toilet had to be removed to do this. The toilet leaked after it was reinstalled. They used one foam ring of the no wax ring, so then they used the thicker ring, and then both rings. Still leaking. Go buy a double thick wax ring, still leaking.

That’s when my dad, brother, the tile guy, and the neighbor call me. I say, “It’s got a crack.” They say, “How can that be?” I say, I don’t know, but it’s got a crack.”

I do my usual methodical trouble shooting, which is why the four guys didn’t call me in the first place, determine that the flapper is leaking and that there must be a crack.

I remove the toilet and find:


My guess is that 25 years ago when the house was built and the toilet installed, the plumber busted the bowl and glued it back together figuring he’d be long gone before anyone noticed.

Every time, every single time, you think you have any easy project, it’s not.

Wow! Unreal. Have any duct tape laying around? It does never end though.

When I replaced the builders garbage disposal I found they had probably lost the locking ring. They used about an inch thick of silicone caulk to hold the disposal. It was hell removing the caulk under the sink.

A friend bought a nice large house about 3 years ago with a beautiful but dated "man cave" that looks and feels like a British pub. Home was built in 1969.

The ceiling was a very dated and low-feeling ugly drop ceiling he wanted to get removed and updated and go with re-routing some wiring and new lights etc and then painting the open rafters/ceiling above all white.

After it was all pulled down his general contractor apparently described what he saw as far as electrical wiring as a "horror show" that "will get someone killed" and he had to bring in an electrician to fix all the now-exposed 50+ years of Bubba'd light fixtures and splices and shared neutrals and wires just twisted together with not even a nut on them.

It all looks really nice and updated now but it was a lot more money and work than he'd planned on.

I'm grateful that the man we bought the house we live in now from never did any work himself (from when it was built in 1951 to when he passed in 2017), I had an inspector tell me this: "you can tell this person never did any DIY work and always had a pro do it".

Went through this exact thing when I bought my house 19 years ago. Master bath toilet, same exact “shit”. Some plumber or previous owner gluing the thing together. It leaked and I said fuck that thing and bought a new toilet.

Calls to mind what my old man often said during DIY home repairs:
" If it aint one damn thing, its another"!

The previous owner put sheet rock in the unfinished garage. The panels were installed horizontal with the ends falling between the 24 inch studs instead of on the studs. I had to tear it all out and haul it to the Lorton dump.

He put in a work bench and used extension cord to wire the lights. I found this out when I went to install a large vise and looked underneath the top before drilling.

He painted the windows inside and painted inside the window track resulting in the windows stuck.

The wall paper was put on by the builder without sealing the dry wall. The owner then placed new wall paper over the old paper. Running the clothes dryer...moisture..caused it to fall off.

Here we go again! My dad, brother, and the neighbor assured me they could handle buying a new toilet and installing it so I left. I figured since they had already practiced setting and resetting the old one four times, what could go wrong?

They go look at toilets and dad decides the really tall model, 2” higher than the previous regular tall model, would be just the ticket for his 86 year old self.

Guess what that means? If you guessed the Pex water supply line is now 2” too short, then you guessed right. They’ve been to the hardware store three times and Lowe’s once, it’s not hooked up, and they’ll try again tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Calls to mind what my old man often said during DIY home repairs:
" If it aint one damn thing, its another"!

Your dad and my dad went to the same damn school. In my 40 years of home ownership I have used that phrase more than once....


on every DIY project.

Pfft, according to Billy Mays, a bit of Flex Seal would have had that toilet back to like new.

quote:

They’ve been to the hardware store three times and Lowe’s once, it’s not hooked up, and they’ll try again tomorrow.

Heck that's normal for any home project!

Keep in mind, that was just to install the new toilet and not including the four trips before it was discovered a new toilet was needed.

I just talked to my dad and it took two more trips today, but it’s done now. By my math, that’s ten trips.

We moved into a ten year old house. As is my habit, I called a locksmith to have all the locks replaced. He saw what I had and told me that the current locks were "contractor's locks." I asked what that meant. He said that a house under construction is keyed so that all the contractors had access, and to accomplish this, the locks could be opened by any key of a similar brand with certain similarities. I challenged him, and he said to get some old keys out and test his theory. He was correct.

[drift]

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:.. He saw what I had and told me that the current locks were "contractor's locks." I asked what that meant. He said that a house under construction is keyed so that all the contractors had access, and to accomplish this, the locks could be opened by any key of a similar brand with certain similarities. I challenged him, and he said to get some old keys out and test his theory. He was correct.

He's partially correct.

"Contractor Locks" are typically sets sold in bulk with a set number (around 20) of lock/key combinations, and you get them with a master key that fits all 20 different locks.

Any contractor that does not have absolute key control over the masters, is a serious concern.


"Construction Locks" are typically a sets all keyed alike we would paint Fluorescent colored paint, put on houses during construction, had a pile of keys that were given to contractors (I had all of mine signed for) so I could keep track, and had a lock re-keying kit to change them if someone was fired, quit or subcontractor no longer welcome. This prevents master keys from becoming "normalized deviance", and the "permanent" keys are handed to the buyer at closing, with one door using a "Construction lock" for any last minute access and swapped out while everyone is present at the end of the walk through.

I had one of my general guy's duty to keep up with the locks, and I kept up with the keys.

This was for our subdivisions.

This "protocol" only works if it is strictly defined and adhered to.

I also knew of other contractors whose game was anything but well managed.
Those contractors that install the "permanent" locks and hand out master keys to may sub is irresponsible.


So, with "Contractor Locks", there may be 20 different key cuts and a lot of 1000 of each Entry door style knobs.
Example: Single entry knob, Keyed Handle Set, Handle Set with Deadbolt, Keyed Handle Set with Deadbolt, Deadbolt, and Keyed Lever.

All of these in various finishes, all with various "inside" presentation of finishes and knob/styles.
And all with style variations.

The "thought" was that the number of variables made it likely that houses near each other having the same keyed locks was statistically unlikely anyone would randomly walk up to a door and gain entry.

Older cars and motorcycles had a similar protocol.

Rode with a group and a couple of guys had the same year make and model GoldWings, and we stopped at a cafe at the end of the trip back, and when the guys left, they ended up driving the other's GW home, and didn't realize until one of them went to get things from the saddle bags. We all got a laugh the next time we got together.

[/drift]

Well, that failed brevity...

My daughter just got married this past weekend at our home which included having a home full of relatives three days before and three days after. After they departed I used the downstairs toilet and it slid three inches backwards. Checked the floor bolts and they both were loose and pulled straight up. I suspect the mounting flange is broken but fortunately nothing was leaking. Shut off the water and drained the tank. Tomorrow I get to pull it and see the extent of the damage. Having replaced toilets in several homes I can’t say that I’m filled with joy and looking forward to yet another toilet replacement experience. If it is indeed a broken mounting flange then I will probably just call the guy. Adventures in home ownership indeed.

quote:

Pfft, according to Billy Mays, a bit of Flex Seal would have had that toilet back to like new.

That's not Billy Mays, that's Phil Swift.

quote:

Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:

quote:

Pfft, according to Billy Mays, a bit of Flex Seal would have had that toilet back to like new.

That's not Billy Mays, that's Phil Swift.

Billy used to sell some kind of magic putty . But he's dead now ....

Bought new construction about 3 years ago. They had a process to rekey all exterior locks to the new keys during the final walk through. Involved inserting the new keys and turning in a certain sequence. Showed me how his no longer worked. So they used master keys during construction in our development (~200 houses) but each house got their own set of different keys before closing. I’m considering upgrading to more secure locks.