I scrolled back the whole year in search of all the posts with the tag #weekend-engagement in which I expressed some of my thoughts, attitudes, fears, described what makes me sad, what makes me happy, wrote about my character and the situations I was in, from which my character and upbringing very easily pulled me out to safety or buried me even deeper in problems.
There were various stories in #weekend-experiences about visits to interesting locations, about sexual fantasies, about the activities I did during the weekend, describing my experiences.
And so back to October 5th or 6th last year, when I encountered the first "hole" in my continuity.
Although this weekend galenkp didn't reach out with topics to write about, I will continue the series, if only to make all 54 weeks for a full year 🙂
If not some interesting topic that galenkp would come up with, then about weekend activities.
I will write about my experience with housework, and if someone asks, I can also give advice, related to what I have been doing.
Actually, these are not classic house chores.
What I did is more of a craft job.
I decided to change the toilet flusher, which ten days ago started leaking even when fully tightened.
It is likely that the ceramic switch that stops/releases the water has worn out.
Although this story could go to the #HiveDiy community, as it concerns DIY crafts, I will still write here, because I have a lesson at the end 🙂
Since my partner went to work this morning, and I stayed home, to get some extra rest from the long business trip I spent the entire work week on, as soon as I woke up and drank my coffee, I decided to take the tools in my hands and replace the flusher in the bathroom.
"Why does it bother you that it drips drop by drop?", my partner asked me.
🙂 "For two reasons," I answered her. "The first is that I don't like to waste water (which is a very limited resource in this world) and the second is that I don't want to listen to the rustle of water drops that are ejected from the pipe under pressure.
I turned the valve in the bathroom, dismantled the flusher, and first tried to take it apart, to see if it could be repaired, not to buy a new one.
I rinsed it and removed all traces of scale and reassembled it.
I unscrewed the valve but it was still dripping.
I dismantled the entire assembly again, the flush and the toilet pipe and went to a nearby store with materials and equipment for plumbing.
They didn't have a complete washer, but, which turned out to be much more convenient for me, they only had a washer cartridge (35e).
I didn't know if I would need anything else, so I bought one Tefal strip for mounting the flusher off the top of my head.
I got home, repackaged the cartridge and installed it in place of the old one.
Great, no more dripping now.
However, when I installed the pipe between the toilet and the showerhead and let the water flow, it flooded from the back of the toilet.
The water that came out of the sink quickly flooded the floor tiles and wetted the floor mats.
So, I also follow mopping the bathroom floor, as well as washing the rugs.
Never mind, at least it will be clean🙂
I took off the pipe and saw that the rubber gasket had hardened, and that's probably why it doesn't fit well at the entrance to the toilet bowl, so it's leaking everywhere.
Let's go to the store again.
The shop assistant recommended a different mechanism for that tube.
I accepted the offer, paid and headed home to finish the assembly.
But damn it.
When I installed the mechanism in the toilet, and installed the pipe, due to the different construction (plastic part instead of soft rubber), the pipe could not enter at the right angle, it had to be shortened from the longer end, towards the flusher.
I disassembled the pipe, marked how much it should be shortened and started cutting.
It was going well until the hacksaw blade broke.
You guessed it, I was going to the store again 😅
After the second attempt to shorten the metal tube without a frame for hacksaw blade, I gave up and went to the neighborhood, where I shortened it with a grinder.
When the pipe was shortened to the appropriate length, everything "laid" nicely.
All that's left is to tighten the connections, and run the washer, to check if there's a water leak somewhere.
After ascertaining that everything was as it should be, all that was left was to wipe the bathroom floor in the part where the water had remained, and the task was solved.
In addition to a little trouble, a lot of walking and dirty hands, now I have a well-closed flush, which will not be heard during the whole day, and especially at night. And the water, drop by drop, will not be wasted unnecessarily.
As I wrote above, if anyone has any questions about these works, feel free to ask, I'll answer what I can I know.
And let me give you a piece of advice. Approach craft work (especially those that require a quick solution, because until I installed the whole set, the water was closed at the valve and there was no water in the bathroom) only if you have all the necessary tools, if you have a store nearby where you can buy everything you need during the work itself, or if you have someone nearby who has tools that you might need. Because craft work is not as simple as when you assemble furniture from an IKEA store, where sometimes you need nothing but a screwdriver.
Handicrafts will quickly show you whether you have the gift, strength and will to do them, or whether you are someone who does not want to get dirty and is ready to pay someone else to get dirty and get the job done.
It wasn't a pretty weekend experience, but it was very rewarding.
In addition to the craft work, with which I showed that it is still known who is the man in the house, and not some slob who would leave everything to the masters (for which I would get an appointment in a month or two), I had to return to routine household chores, until my partner arrived home from work.
To vacuum the apartment, pick up the laundry from the dryer, wash the dishes, water the flowers - like a real macho man.
I wish you a nice weekend!
Now that I have finished all my duties, I also went to relax and rest a bit.