Lady Plumber Tips

I know that toilets are no discussion for polite company but I just can’t get over the excitement of not having to buy a new toilet. Let me fill in the blanks!

My daughter and I share a bathroom but my husband spends more time in it plunging what he thinks is too much “girl” action. It’s true, since I work from home most days and J has her girlfriends over, this is a high traffic toilet. Then I started to complain that it was poorly designed if it couldn’t handle what amounts to a family of 4, I mean come on, 2 back ups per week is ridiculous.

So we went in search of a “better design” but I bailed in the aisle of a big box store one Sunday from the sheer exhaustion of also having to buy a replacement tap for our truly broken, 60 year old tub faucet. When the plumber was over, replacing said tap, I asked about toilet design. He kindly pointed out that design and too many girls were not the issue, nor was it the high fibre diets that we are on. “It’s the lime”, he said, “dissolve that and problem solved.”

I didn’t know that? Did you? Did my husband? Does anyone know that when your toilet slows down, blame the water? The solution couldn’t be easier: pour half a bottle of bleach into the bowl and let it sit overnight. Turn of the water mid-flush so as not to dilute the power of the bleach with water.
Said bleach is much cheaper and easier on the environment than other caustic chemicals but we kept the door closed overnight to avoid dreaming of swimming pools from the smell. Turn the water back on in the morning and flush.

Only one step left. To scrape away the residue that lurks in the little hole at the front of the bowl. Picture this: me on my hands and knees, steak knife in rubber gloved hands, poking at the crud in that hole. I can’t tell you my glee when out crumbled an entire plug of scale that had built up over the years. The bleach had loosened it but my knife stabbing did the trick.
Then I stood back and flushed, like three times, watching the whole system work its magic. The whole game took 10 minutes and $1. Not a new commode, not a plumber’s bill, not a weekend of worry when the girls are sleeping over!
I well aware that the topic isn’t tidy but I have to tell you my moment of joy today came cheap, and easy and a mother’s day never starts that way. Here’s to saving the day the lady like way!