toiletology

The joys of home ownership. Bookmark http://www.toiletology.com/, it will come in handy some day. I've now replaced the innards of two toilet tanks with help from the site. A few things I've learned, either from reading or experience:

• Clean the toilet thoroughly before you work on it, you're going to have your hands all over it.
  
• Check the shutoff valve before you do any work, if it's tight then use some penetrating oil and let it soak in first.
• Have lots of old towels around, handy for soaking up water and to cushion your knees.
  
• When you're at the hardware store, buy ALL of the parts that you might possibly need, you might as well replace everything while the tank is dry (like the bolts that hold the tank on, they rust out).
  
• If you don't have one, also get a hacksaw handle (blade holder for close quarter work) and some blades, to remove those rusted bolts, it's a few well spent dollars.
  
• I've never replaced an entire toilet, just repaired the guts. Replacing a whole one is probably better left to the pros (who have a special handtruck to lift the things out).

Yeah, it's been a pretty dull winter (besides Sandals). Our entertainment is mostly playing with the dog or playing Guitar Hero and Little Big Planet. Debbie is spending a lot of time being the maid of honor for our friend Sheila, wedding is in two months so you can imagine the running around. Sheila is a good planner so it's all going smoothly, it just seems like there's something to do every weekend. This has all made Debbie very happy that we had a simple ceremony at home :-)