Recent content by Cheakamus

My daughter, who lived in Paris for four years, was always scolding us when we visited for not using the brush after every BM. She said Europeans would die rather than leave a toilet bowl dirty. Now that I have a new wall-hung Toto Acquia at home, I see why. The water spot is perhaps a...

From the Urban Dictionary: 1. just sayin' word of the day: January 18, 2011 a term coined to be used at the end of something insulting or offensive to take the heat off you when you say it.

Geberit instructions say "Sound insulation pad is optional or required." The picture shows a thin sheet of indeterminate material with the appropriate cut-outs that you mount between the toilet bowl and the wall, then trim off the excess with a knife. Sound deadening aside, it seems a good...

Hi everyone, I've had problems with my basement drain backing up the past year or so. The drain feeds into an two-inch cast-iron auxiliary stack. My four-inch main stack is on the other side of the house, and the two side sewers meet somewhere out under the front lawn. Besides the basement...

Thanks, Jim. That's what I'll do.

I am about to install a drop-in Hydrosystems whirlpool tub. Manufacturer requires a mortar seat. Floor is Sturd-i-floor ply; tub is fiberglas moulded onto OSB base. I am contemplating putting a sheet of plastic on the floor before shoveling on the mortar and then covering the loose mortar...

Could it be pieced together using a range-top pot filler with a shower head attached?

Anybody have any opinions about Hansgrohe/Axor? I'm having trouble finding something I like, and so far, Hansgrohe seems to be the only manufacturer with a full line that meets my needs: tub filler with diverter for hand-held shower and 9" spout; balanced shower control with diverter for...

Thanks, HJ. That confirms it then — I'm definitely not going to install this drain and will instead look for a simpler drain with perhaps a toe-tap type stopper that can easily be replaced.

I was sold a cable-driven bath waste and overflow mechanism with my tub, but I'm hesitating to install it because the cable "gearbox" will not be accessible once it's installed. Should it go wrong, I'm not sure I could retrofit any other type of stopper. I also wonder whether it might have a...

Yes, that's the idea of the blank-face GFCI receptacles in the cupboard (I want them easily accessible in case they trip, but I really don't want to have to look at them). In all, I figure I'm going to need 4 separate circuits in this bathroom. In my downstairs bathroom, which I remodeled last...

Thanks, Cacher Chick and John. I did some checking on line, but it appears that for my service panel (GE), one-inch, i.e., double-slot, GFCI breakers are the only ones available. I had a poke around at Home Depot today, and I think what I'm going to do is buy a couple of blank-face GFCI...

I am installing a Hydro Systems jetted tub with in-line heater in my upstairs bathroom remodel. The tub requires a dedicated 110v 20 amp GFCI-protected electrical circuit for the pump and an additional dedicated 110v 20 amp GFCI-protected circuit for the heater. Does it make any difference...

The piece of 3" ABS I use to connect the flange to the elbow will be 2-1/2" long — 1-1/2" into the bell of the elbow and 1" into the flange (which I had to reduce in length). I realize that this is not optimum, but the only alternatives, as far as I know, are to build up the floor of the...

Sadly, yes. The top of my old, lead bend cleared the bottom of my subfloor by about half an inch, so anything bigger would have entailed cutting into my cast iron stack to add a new tee. I've actually had this same situation in a couple of my rentals, and it's never been a problem. I'll use...