Toilet Innards

My goodness, but toilet innards are very expensive to replace.  It seems to have gotten worse since the last time I had to deal with the issue.  I just spent $189.00 to replace a flapper.  Maybe next time I'll try to do it myself.  It doesn't look that difficult.   

Comments

[soccerdad]

Reminds me of the time my brother and I decided to change the oil in our cars. I ended up draining the transmission fluid.
How difficult could it be?

[Gail]

Ha. Famous last words. Yes, I'm sure I'd wind up breaking the toilet and causing a flood.

[Malibu Stacy]

Once upon a time, in a failed marriage, far, far away, the ball faucet in our bathtub gave out, causing hot water to pour forth unimpeded. I was able to shut off the hot water valve to stop the flow, so off I went to Home Depot to pick up the replacement parts. Unfortunately, to make the repair, I had to be able to turn off ALL the water and THAT valve turned out to be stuck tight. I wrestled with it to the best of my abilities, but I finally got fed up and called a Professional.

The plumber came to the house and I explained to him that I had diagnosed the problem and bought the parts to make the repairs but was unable to budge the shut-off valve. He worked on it a while, but he couldn't shift it either, so he suggested that we (for my husband had begun hovering at the perimeter of our discussion) call the water department and have them shut the water off at the curb. (That was going to be needlessly expensive, so I ended up calling a Bigger Plumber who had a whopping great mallet and more powerful expletives and he got the job done.)

Anyway, after the Ineffective Plumber left us in a state of unrepair, my husband gave me Holy Hell for daring to tell the guy the truth, that I had tried to fix the leaky faucet myself. Apparently, this caused him to suffer a severe loss of Dude Status in the eyes of a fellow Y-carrier, even thought it was one he'd likely never see again in his entire life.

Now I own my own house and make my own small repairs without having to worry about fluffing anyone's ego. It's better this way.

[Gail]

My husband is ready, willing and able to admit he has no aptitude for plumbing. He also seems to have little aptitude for opening up a phone book, finding a phone number, calling it, setting up an appointment, and hanging around until the repairman comes.

But then again, his ego rarely deflates, so I don't have to worry about keeping it fluffed. lol

The only thing I have to be careful about as far as his male ego goes is buying him ties. He says the ones I buy are gay. I guess I am only attracted to feminine patterns/colors.

[Mark]

WOAH! I think you need to talk to your plumber. I understand the need for a service call charge, but that much to replace a flapper (I can do it in an hour INCLUDING a trip to the hardware store and back with the part. Ask him to justify that cost, Gail.

[DON]

That's a lot of money for a job that doesn't require taking the tank off. The part is $11 and takes about 20 minutes if you don't know what you're doing.

Would you be interested in a genuine fake watch? I got some cheap...

[DRaftervoi]

Here you go:

http://www.eweb.org/home/water/repair/flapper.htm

My only recommendation is that...well, if you've only got one toilet in the house, then you've got to get it right the first time.

[Gail]

I called the plumber to question the charge, and was told that they charge $149.00 for a house call, any house call, and that I was "only" charged $40 for the flapper replacement.

Whatta racket. I should have asked before they came out, but I'd used the same company before and never felt badly overcharged previously.

Live and loin. Next time, I'll ask about cost up front. Was too concerned with Xing the chore off my list and didn't stop to think.

[DRaftervoi]

I don't really think they're that far out of line, Gail: figure out how much money it takes to keep an employee (salary & benefits & insurance & bonding)...throw in gasoline and rents, too. What happens is that some jobs get to be ridiculously priced for the actual service rendered...and at that point, learning to do it yourself isn't a bad idea.

HOWEVER: DO NOT TRY TO PERFORM AN APPENDECTOMY ON YOURSELF WITH A SKILSAW. Trust me, I know from experience that some things are best left to professionals.

[Mark]

I disagreed with DRaftervoi. And I'm a contractor. I know exactly what it takes to run a business. They were out of line by being unethical. Gail was hosed by someone who knew how simple a job it really is. If someone called me about a similar situation, I could not in good conscience agree to do it and then charge what they did. I would explain how simple a job it is (two seconds to lift the lid, pull the old one and pop in the new one - the hardest and most time consuming part is driving to Home Despot and matching up the old one with a new one). If they still felt uncomfortable doing it I would refer them to a reasonable handyman service.

But that is why I will probably never make a killing at what I do. I am too ethical.