Over the weekend, I made Husband get on board with my “Get On That Already” challenge. He wasn’t exactly excited, but he agreed to help just the same. So what did we get on, together?
Well, for a while, maybe even years, our guests have been subjected to a rocking good time when tending to their business. Of course, this embarrassed me, but instead of fixing the problem correctly, whenever we’d have a party, I’d shove poker chips underneath the pot in hopes that I could shim it in place. I think it worked, but it was temporary, so it really wasn’t a good fix. So encouraged by this post over on Young House Love, Husband and I finally fixed it right.
Now, I would have photos of the beginning process, but Husband said he’d throttle me if I started snapping while he was on his knees in front of the toilet. So I waited until he stepped out…
Of course, he didn’t step out until after he had turned off the water at the wall, flushed the toilet to drain the tank, plunged out the remaining water from the bowl, unbolted the toilet from the floor, and make me help him carry it outside. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time he made me help. He instructed me to head back to the bathroom, and I was greeted with this…
…And a few too many poker chips. Gross, right? That, my friends, is the wax ring that seals the toilet with the floor and pipe below. My job was to grab that brass wax ring, and get it out of there. Armed with a scraper, and a trash bag, I got busy.
Don’t let the name “wax ring” fool you. This thing was nothing like a candle. It was sticky, and gross. Scraping it off was a dirty job, and it took forever. I also had to take out the black rubber ring in the center. This comes with many wax ring replacements, so the old one had to go. Once I was done, it looked like this…
Sure, it’s still not pretty, but all that wax on top was gone. I even tried to get that wax off the tile floor, but it wasn’t going anywhere, and since it would be hidden by the toilet, I decided it could stay.
The next step was to insert the new bolts, by sticking them through the larger area in the slots, and sliding them into place. Then the new wax ring was placed onto the metal plate.
And since the toilet was out of the way, I decided to finish painting the wall…
Once everything was in place, the final step was to place the toilet back onto the ring, and bolts, and then press it firmly into place. Then you just have to bolt it down, and reconnect the water.
Ok, so you can’t tell a difference at all, but I’m sure my guests will feel a bit more stable when they have a seat.
Gettin' By 