Another Long Day in DIY Remodel-land and Too Many Trips to the Hardware Store

Today, I started my day by taking out the rest of the inner parts of the toilet and removed the tank. The toilet has been hard to flush and I decided it was time to replace everything as long as I was fixing up the bathroom. I actually started this task last week, but since I had not actually checked out what kind of insides this toilet had, I assumed it was like the one I changed out last year. Not. So I had to make a trip to the hardware store on Thursday to get more/different parts.

In order to change out all the parts, I had to remove the tank from the bowl. The tank is held on with three long bolts which go through a rubber washer, down through holes in the bowl and are held tight by a nut at the bottom. And here is where my day started going badly. The top of the bolts had a slot for a flat-head screw driver. But as soon as I tried to loosen the first bolt, the top of it started to disintegrate and the bottom of the bolt was corroded so getting it off was not going to be easy. Lots of WD-40; a hacksaw and an hour later, I finally removed the last of the three bolts. Unfortunately, I had planned to reuse the bolts so I made another trip to the hardware store.

Which 2 colors would you pick?

Not too bad on the caulk job!

After returning, it was already noon, and I wanted to get the caulk around the tub done since that takes awhile to cure but still needed a second coat of grout sealer on the tile first. I did that and caulked the tub. I had already purchased paint samples last weekend and put all three colors on the wall around the edge of the tub. I needed to "reflect" on the colors for awhile.

I know you will think that I am silly, but I had already planned to go to the hardware store to buy the shower head and tub faucet trim. Why didn't I get it then? Don't ask me. Off I went to pick out my shower head and tub faucet. I knew that I wanted to use a Price Pfister trim kit. The previous hardware was Price Pfister and I didn't want to have to re-plumb the valve, so I had to find a Price Pfister that I liked. Four hardware stores later, I finally had my trim kit and headed home. It was 4:30 in the afternoon.

Installing the shower head and faucet handle was easy. Everything went according to plan until I realized that the tub faucet was too long for the pipe coming out of the wall and it required a threaded pipe. So back to the hardware store. Again.

My thought was to get a cheap tub faucet for a few dollars and then get a plumber in to put in what I needed. I have done soldering of pipes in the past, but did not have a torch and soldering supplies, so I was thinking that would be a stop gap until I got a plumber later in the year. But after finding out that there is no such thing as a cheap, temporary tub faucet, I came home with a new toy! I did some soldering of copper pipes years ago, but never really had the opportunity again and of course didn't own the equipment -- now I do!

By the time I got home it was 7:00 PM and I had not eaten yet so I decided to throw a couple of steaks on the grill for me and the DH. After dinner, I was too tired to think about burning down the house, so I am putting off finishing the tub faucet until tomorrow. I did clean up the bathroom a bit as I was tired of tripping over tools that I had not put away. I mopped the floor and whipped down the counter top and removed and replaced the caulk in on the counter top.

Tomorrow is another day!

Happy remodeling!