bluegargantua

Hey,

So a few years ago I fixed the flapper in my toilet (the bit that clamps down and seals the tank so that water doesn't flow into the bowl). This was a serious leak that improved my water bill immensely when I fixed it.

Over the past year, my water bill has been inching up again. I know I'm probably using more water in general than I have in the past, but it still felt weird that it would be going up so consistently. Today, when I was cleaning the toilet, I realized that there was the hiss of water leaking. It could be that the flapper/seal is still faulty and is leaking, but I suspect that it might be the float because if I put my hand in the tank, that displaced enough water to raise the float a bit and stop the hiss.

It doesn't sound like the float is leaking or has water in it. Perhaps I need a new arm for the float with a better angle in it or something. Any ideas from the internet on how to troubleshoot this (to prove it's the float or the flapper) and what I could do about it (other than install new equipment, I expect to do that, but is there some trick of the trade I should be aware of)?

Thanks
Tom

Hi,

So, we've got a phantom doorbell in our house. This morning, in the coffee shop, I ran into the former owner of the house and asked her what the deal was.

"Oh, my mom got the doorbell set for us and we put it up. It kept ringing when no one was there. Worse, lots of times the actual doorbells on our house wouldn't ring if they were pressed. So we never opened the door when we needed to and always opened it when we didn't. So I took out the doorbells. I thought I disabled the chimes too. Sorry about that. It totally drove the dog nuts. She'd hear the bell and go charging for the door, all excited, and we'd have to sadly inform her that no one was there."

And now we know...
Tom

Grrrr...

Someone has torn off a piece of siding on the front of our house. It didn't fall off because I didn't find a piece of siding beneath the window. And I think it's a bit too heavy to fall down and then blow away. Between this and the hole punched in on the side, I have to wonder what the hell we've done to piss off whoever. Cripes.

later
Tom

Hi,

For my more handy friends I've got a question...

( this is a picture of some siding on my house )

As you can see, there some sort of crack or hole in it. This is a recent development, I'm sure it wasn't there when we bought the place. In fact, I'm pretty sure it developed while I was on vacation. At any rate, I saw a wasp fly into the hole.

My question: After I spray for bugs, I want to patch/fill the hole. At Lowe's they recommended an exterior silicone caulk/sealer, or possibly bondo. Is that really what I want for this? It seems like I'd have to full the siding with caulk, when what I really want is more of a patch.

Your input is valued!

Thanks
Tom