Check those toilets!!

OK, so we all know that water is wasted when we have a leaky toilet. So every now and then you need to check them. Now, if you have a new toilet you may be thinking "Oh, this doesn't mean me." BUT, we used to have a nice pretty new house once too and within weeks of moving in we discovered one of the toilets, was in fact leaking. So we had to call in the contractor to fix it, and he showed us what was wrong with it. We continued to have to repair that toilet about once or twice a year after that. Now we live in a beautiful 102 year old house so EVERYTHING leaks.

So how do you check your toilet? Several ways. Of course, sometimes you can hear a leak, especially if it trips the water to cut on to refill the tank. You can also put some food dye in the tank (keeping the bowl clear) and check back in a few hours. If the bowl has the food dye in it then you've got a leak. Lastly, check the floor around the toilet. If there is water, or if you see an area with dried water (typically a brown ring) then you may have a leak (or a boy in the house who can't aim).

Oh no, do the toilets need replacing!? Well, no. While a new low flow or dual flush toilet would be a great help in conserving water, there is also the whole throwing away of an old toilet that you have to deal with. That's still wasteful to throw away a perfectly good toilet. Many times fixing a toilet is quite easy and inexpensive. What's even better is that now there are flush systems that only allow the tank to refill a couple of times before it stops the cycle. If the leak continues the tank will eventually empty without refilling itself and wasting water. We have this on one of our toilets (see old toilets above) and it works well. If a leak develops we know because the next time we go to flush the tank fills up instead of flushing. It can be a bit annoying to have to wait for it to refill completely before flushing, but I know that it means that water was saved. This same system is going to be put on our other toilet very soon because I have started to hear it reflling itself in the middle of the day.

How does one fix a toilet? Well, it depends on what's wrong. Look in the tank and check to see if the chain is knotted up, if the ball is gunked up, if the wax washers are disintegrated, and if the handle is functioning is a good start. Make your observation, pay attention to the brand of toilet you have and go to your local home improvement store. Tell an associate what you saw and chances are they can direct you to what you need to replace. The replacement parts typically have instructions, but you can always clarify with the sales associate. Toilets are pretty straight forward and can be a good way to dive into home repair if you've never really tried before, but of course you should gauge your abilities first before deciding to dive into repairing them.