I came home Thursday evening to a flooded bathroom. Ah, the joys of home (such as it is) ownership. Turns out that one of the tank bolts in the toilet had snapped, and the water drained out of the tank through the mounting hole. Happy happy joy joy.
Step one: shut off the water to the toilet. Well, the valve actually turns (not always the case) but won't close the valve entirely, and the tank keeps getting replenished with water.
Buckets! Every half hour. No fun. This lasts until bedtime.
Okay, here's the deal - everyone go use the toilet in the other bathroom now, and then the main water valve in the house is getting shut off. Thankfully enough, this one works.
The next morning, I stop by the mecca of all guyness (aka The Home Depot) and pick up a hardware kit. I find one for $6. Not bad. I head back home with it and instruct the teenager to do what he can to get the other bolt out so that I can install the new hardware. Okay, dad.
After a long, uncomfortable day at work (no shower), I finally trudge home resolved that no matter how long this takes, I am going to get this fixed. When I get there, I find out that a) the tank's still attached, b) the teenager has used about a half can of WD-40 on the bolt/nut combination, with no luck, and c) he had the flash of brilliance to wedge the can under the tank valve so that it would stop trying to fill the tank. Nice. I wish I had thought of that the night before.
The problem is, the damn tank is still attached. Time to get creative. Hacksaw! If we can't unscrew it, we'll just cut the bolt in the middle. There's not a whole lot of room, and only about an inch of travel for the saw blade, but it's enough, and 20 minutes later I finally have something I can work with.
You'd be surprised at how disgusting the area between tank and bowl can get. Gack!
Reassembly with new brass hardware (no rust!) is a snap, and the toilet becomes one, non-leaky piece again in about an hour's time, from start to finish.
Manhood confirmed.
What a guy!
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