May I bore you with more talk of plumbing?

I didn't sleep well last night because I knew I had so much to do today.  Why do I do that?  Losing sleep doesn't help and I just keep thinking about the same things again and again anyway.  Oh well, at least I felt prepared when I got up this morning.

Our dear friend and electrician, Fred, arrived at 9:30 to begin the installation of our new tankless water heater.  After I replaced the water lines last month the water heater began leaking out the top so we decided it was time to switch to the on-demand, or tankless, water heater.  I bought it online and over the phone and it was shipped in 5 days.  The only help I gave installing the heater was to drain the old one so we could remove it and then run to Lowes to buy the parts we needed while Fred did the electric work.  I finally skipped out because I had to get to our rental property to see what needed to be done about their wobbly toilet.  I was happy to come home later tonight to see a beautiful, small water heater hanging on our wall.  I also found the old heater decorating our patio. 

Thank goodness our rental is only 4 miles from our house.  I knew the toilet would need a new wax gasket but was concerned the floor boards were damaged too.  That's probably the biggest reason I lost sleep last night.  I was concerned about how I'd do the construction and plumbing that needed to be done and finish it in a day.  There's only one toilet in that house so it had to be completed pretty quickly.   Surprisingly I had all the things I needed to do the job except the glue for the PVC and flange.  I knew I could count on my neighbor, Feenie, to fix me right up though.  Some people borrow a cup of sugar.  He and I borrow each other's tools and supplies.

Sure enough, the floor was damaged and the flange had to be broken and chiseled off the pipe so I could install a new one.  That took longer than I expected but at least it worked and I didn't have to cut the drain line from below which is in a very tight crawlspace in a very tight spot.  I had to file away any remaining plastic and glue so the new flange would slide on.

I cut out the floorboards with a circular saw and wood chisels and also removed another layer of plywood.  The subfloor was still dry and solid.

 Luckily the depth of those 2 layers was 1 1/2 inches so I could replace it all with a 2 X 12 and it was flush with the existing floor.  It needs to be stained but since it's pine and so are the floorboards it should look ok.  It took me 6 hours to do this job but I got it done.  It may not be beautiful but their toilet is now sitting firmly on solid floor and the tenants are happy.

 I hope not to blog about plumbing for a very long time.