Apparently there will be a part 3… Last night, at the weekly Wednesday dinner out with my parents and a variety of other people (the roster fluctuates depending on who’s there) Hubby and I were sitting at one end with my mom and grand-aunt, and my dad and others were at the far end, so he didn’t hear about Monday’s toilet saga.
We no sooner get home, my dad calls me and tells me he’s coming over this morning at 9 to cut the floor out, fix it, and replace the toilet.
Okay, then. I hadn’t asked him to help me with Monday’s event because I didn’t realize he was cleared by his doctors after his surgery to go back to normal activities.
It wasn’t quite 9 am…and I didn’t even have a full cup of coffee in me, and ten minutes later the old toilet is in my front yard.
But on the bright side, he did bring this with him, just in case. Yes, it actually had a seat in it. Clever. (No, fortunately, we didn’t have to use it.
So then he starts pulling out the old, rotted wood. Fortunately, underneath, the joists are okay.
The top layer of linoleum (bottom left, near my foot) is what I’d put down a couple of years ago. That all had to go, because the water had apparently run under that, between the white with tan grid linoleum. (Under which is another layer of…guess what? Linoleum.)
Fortunately, my dad is very old school and working on old houses is sort of one of his strong points. He was able to stick his head through the hole, find the nearest joists, and add an 
extra 2×6 to reinforce where he had to cut.
That’s with the hole squared up, and before he go the 2×6 put into position. At this point I’d ripped up a bunch of the top layer of flooring I’d put down…
…and gots an owie in the process.
So, onward. First trip to Lowe’s, and I got the chair-height toilet ($99 instead of $88 for the cheapest) because my son’s in a wheelchair. I figured this would make things a little easier. There’s the 1x6PT that we got (8′) because we figured PT in that location would hold up better. It’ll be covered by linoleum anyway.
And a new wax ring with flange. *head/desk* Yes, the toilet comes with one, but we wanted the extra thick one, just in case.
Back home, and my dad got the first piece cut and in place. (You can see the 2×6 he put in at the bottom of the hole.) He’d saved the curved piece that came out from the old wood (haha, thinking!) and used it as a template for the curve when he cut it out.
And then the second piece went in…
And then one more…
Like a glove!
So now I have a floor that we won’t fall through when we sit to…you know. (My dad had “crap job” jokes out the ass…see what I did there? LOL)
No, this isn’t pretty. You can sort of see the bottom layer of linoleum peeking through around the edges (not the darkest, that’s wood) of the grid-patterned linoleum. I NEVER remember that linoleum (the bottom level) so it was likely what Grandaddy put in when he built the house back in 1950-ish?
And now we put the bowl in. (A lot lighter than a whole toilet, for sure!)
I’m starting to get really hopeful at this point. (That was my first mistake.)
And then we put the tank on…
And then my dad told me to go ahead and connect the water supply.
D’OH! The supply line is literally less than an inch TOO SHORT? (Remember how I said I bought the chair-height toilet? Um, yeah. CRAP.) So BACK to Lowe’s for a new, longer supply line.
And then it’s time to connect the water…and the right tank bolt is leaking and won’t stop.
*head/desk*
So my dad actually cannibalized the old toilet tank, which had a nice system of sandwiched gaskets. He used those, and nuts from the old one, to wedge the new tank seal on the inside, and then the old one on the outside. Problem solved.
TA-DA! One brand new, non-leaking, flushing, won’t-fall-through-the-rotted-floor toilet! WOOT! No more jiggling the handle to keep it from running or rigging a new paperclip into the chain to the flapper. LOL
The old one is in the yard awaiting a dump run, which Sir said He’d do for me. And we still have to rip up the old layers of linoleum in the bathroom and do that. But yay, it works!
Whew. Now I’m exhausted from today, hands are killing me, and I absolutely LOVE my father for taking care of that for me.
I’ll report on part three (the new floor redux) once that’s done.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dad’s are good for stuff like that! I miss mine! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Homes are so much fun to take care of. Not… (((HUGS)))
Aren’t Dads the greatest! Mine was always ready to come to the rescue even when we didn’t ask.
You Dad is Awesome! I sure wish I still had my Dad.