10 hours

Last night (Sunday) at 9pm one of my tenants called me to tell me that their toilet was not working properly.  She said that she and her daughter had been using the plunger on the darned thing for a few hours and they were finally giving up.

So, at 9pm I called a plumber. 

at 10:30pm the plumber arrived, snaked the drain and flushed the toilet a few dozen times and the toilet worked fine.

This morning at 9am my tenants called.

The toilet was stopped up again.

This means that there is something seriously wrong.  So I called the guy back who came out the evening before  and he and I had a pow wow in the bathroom trying to figure out what was wrong.  Finally he pulled the toilet and discovered several things wrong.

After a few hours of trying to make what we had work - the plumber and I loaded up in my car and went to Home Depot.   I decided to buy a new toilet, a new flange and hopefully have a toilet that didn't run over!

More hours have gone by - taking the flange out was a good idea as the flange was too small for the job it needed to do, but once the flange was removed the horror of the situation was beginning to reveal itself.  There was a 6" thick slab of concrete some of which needed to be chipped away in order for the new flange to be installed.

Finally at 7pm the two plumbers (we gained one mid way through) were ready to set the new toilet.  We were all ready.  except.

The new toilet was the wrong size.   It was 10" from center rather than the standard 10" from center (or something like that.)  The plumbers took off for Home Depot once again.  They came back over an hour later without a toilet.  Both HD and Lowes in our area carried only the standard 12" from center toilets (!!!) the 10" ones are common for trailers and other small home types.

The boys temporarily set the toilet for my tenant at an angle so she would have a bathroom to use, but will arrive in the morning with a new toilet of the correct size.  I am positive that tomorrow will be quick and easy.  The boys assured me that their plumbing distribution place carried the 10" toilets and we wouldn't have to worry about calling around the state to find one of them.

I don't believe I've ever had to hang out for 10 hours while a toilet was installed.  This must be a record.  It doesn't surprise me though.  It seems with these renovated condos that the everything was cobbled together.  We didn't know it at the time of course, but if something goes wrong it is never easy to fix.

sigh.

I didn't take any photos of our adventures today, but I think I'm putting the plumber on my Christmas List.