Nate's Fargo Fixer-Upper: November 2008

You didn't think you'd see it, did you? Another post about a repair project. The mind boggles!

I was visiting friends in Fargo yesterday when I received a call from my realtor. I was excited, thinking it was an offer or something, but no. The house was being shown and there was water on the floor in the bathroom from some sort of toilet leak. I think this house just knows when I'm in town and needs to have my attention.

I swung by the house to take a look and see where the water was leaking. Fortunately it was up top and not at the base of the toilet. I wasn't about to go pulling everything apart down to the floor! The coupling between the tank and the bowl was leaking due to a faulty seal, so off I went to the 'Depot for parts.

The part was surprisingly easy to find so I picked it up and then grabbed some insulation for the copper pipes that lead to the kitchen sink. Somebody in their P.O. wisdom installed the pipes right next to the foundation wall where they like to sit and freeze in the winter. I don't know if I blogged about running downstairs during the coldest parts of Jan/Feb with a hair dryer to get the water running again, but I did it a couple times. After some unnecessary browsing through tile and lighting (I can't help myself) I made my purchases and went back to the house.

The water didn't need to be turned off because I hadn't paid a water bill for quite a few months. Strange how I wasn't getting the bills in New York, huh. Later I had to visit the city office to get the water turned back on, but that's another story entirely.

I luckily found a screwdriver and pliers in the basement to use for the job. I really wasn't prepared to be doing house projects yesterday as evidenced by my skinny jeans and cashmere blend turtleneck. Yeah, I was elbows deep in a toilet wearing cashmere. Typical me, right?

Here I am with my toilet supplies, found pliers, and inappropriate housework attire:

I removed the leaky coupling and did my best to catch all of the water in an old mug that I found abandoned in a cabinet. After I dried everything off I dropped in the new coupling and bam, I was done. Easy.

Out with the old:

In with the new:

The "under bowl" shot.

Next I made my way down to the basement with my insulation to wrap up the copper pipes. I failed to do a spiderweb check and, as I crawled my way over to the pipes, I quickly found myself completely covered with them. In my hair, eyes, mouth, and all over my sweater. After a nice little freak-out session I put up the insulation and ran back upstairs.

I took some photos...