top of page

Taking the mystery out of replacing a toilet

As a single mom, I am the target when telemarketers request to speak to "the lady of the house" (when I get caught thinking the number on the call display is potentially somebody I know, and actually make the mistake of ANSWERING these calls).  But in my role, I am also, of course, the "man" of my house when it comes to traditional "man" jobs like taking out the garbage, plunging clogged toilets and mowing the lawn. I've always been pretty handy, perhaps stemming from the fact that I moved out of my mom's place when I was eighteen, and had to look after minor repairs by myself.  But there are still a few tasks that I generally stay away from.  Anything to do with plumbing or electrical, or extremely heavy lifting, I prefer to call in the experts.  Or at least call in the muscles of whichever of my neighbours or friends' husbands I have the nerve to call and request help of that weekend. My friends are very willing to help me out, for sure, but recognizing how busy everyone is with their own lives, there's a part of me that just prefers to try and handle whatever I can on my own.  Which is why I decided to finally attend my local Home Depot's Wednesday night "Do-It-Herself" workshop last night.  Topic:  How to Install a Toilet. Now, I don't have any immediate need to replace any toilets in my house (knock wood!).  Although it would be environmentally friendly for me to convert all of them to low-flow-water-saving models, it's not something I want to make a place for in my budget at this very moment.  But knowledge is power....so I figured a little extra plumbing know-how couldn't hurt. I recruited my best friend's 12-year-old daughter to come with me, and thank goodness because we were the only two that showed up for the workshop!  I would have been fine doing it myself, but was glad for the company all the same.  I sold Sara on the idea by suggesting that what if, one day, she found herself off at university somewhere in a faraway city where her dad was unable to come to do household repairs....you never know when you might need to know about toilets!  Luckily, she's a cool girl who's game for just about anything, and with not much else on her agenda for the night, she agreed to come along. Bill from Home Depot, good man that he is, went ahead with the workshop even with just the two of us there.  And you know what?  Changing a toilet is EASY!  Really not all that complicated, and even if you run into a snag in the process, the potential problems are not all that tough to deal with either.  Basically, you turn off the water valve (easy), drain the water (easy), and unscrew the bolts from the tank and the base (easy).  At this point you might need to give the toilet a shove to un-stick it from the existing wax seal (if you're a wee spindly-armed thing, you may need to use some leverage and some foot power for this step...but still not complicated).  Then you lift off the old toilet, set in the new wax seal, and bolt all the new stuff together (base to floor and tank to base)...easy, easy, easy.  Screw on a new braided hose from the toilet tank to the water valve, turn the water back on and you're home free (again....you guessed it...easy-peasy!). Bill did make note that when you take the old toilet off, you might want to stuff a rag in the floor hole while you're working in case you're worried about odour, but "you probably won't even smell any sewage gases". Sewagegases?!?!  Ok that WAS the one part that scared me off a bit.  Note to self:  wear one of those face masks, just in case.  Perhaps touched with a dab of lavender oil, for good measure. And remember to remove that odour-stopping rag you stuffed into the floor, before installing the new toilet.  Forget that step, and it WOULD pose a serious problem. So there you have it.  Toilet Replacement 101.  Until I actually complete a real toilet replacement first-hand, I wouldn't claim to have "passed the course", but after Bill's workshop, I sure do feel prepared for the final exam.  And I take comfort in the fact that my friend's daughter is also a teeny bit more equipped to handle life on her own, in the event there isn't a dude around to take care of this "man" job, should the occasion arise.  Heck, and I'm better-equipped too. Flange bolts, wax seals and sewage gases.  We've got it covered!

  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • X/Twitter
  • LinkedIn
IP_Certified_Trainer_logo_bw.png

©2023 by Kelly Wagner

bottom of page