Member-only story
Why does it always take 3 trips to the hardware store?
Last month my neighbor’s water bill was over $200.
That’s extremely high given she passed away a few months ago and nobody lives there.
Her sister called me and asked me to look for a water leak.
Turns out the toilet was running so being the nice neighbor I am, I offered to fix it (plumbers in Marin charge at least $300 to walk in the door and plumbing is easy, right?).
There isn’t much to a toilet so I was off to the hardware store to get the parts.
Every time I try to fix plumbing around the house it takes three trips to the hardware store.
Before I left, I took a picture of the inside of the tank to make sure I got the right parts.
I replaced the flapper.
The toilet kept running.
I replaced the valve/float assembly.
The damn toilet is still running.
After a few failed adjustments, I went back to the store because the handle was rusted out.
I replaced the handle and the toilet continued to run.
I noticed the flexible connector started leaking so back to the store for the third time.