14 problems with your toilet you’ll regret ignoring

For about 90 percent of clogged toilets, you only need one special tool: A toilet plunger. Buy a toilet plunger with an extension flange on the rubber bell-shaped end. A toilet plunger with an extension flange is designed to fit toilets better, so you can deliver more “oomph” to the plunge. You could pull a woodchuck from a hole with a toilet plunger with an extension flange. The toilet plunger will unplug sink and tub drains, too, if you simply fold the flange back into the bell.

Here’s some more advice on how to clear a blocked toilet. 

Yes, the bathroom is a place to get clean, but it can easily be a place to trap some pretty foul smells. If you don’t caulk a toilet to the floor, you could find yourself smelling leftover residue from smelly mop water, tub water, or even worse, the remnants of your son’s potty training.

Follow these three steps to mastering your caulking gun. 

Tighten a loose or wiggly toilet seat with inexpensive rubber bushings and seat stabilisers. It’s a 15-minute fix that’ll last for years. Remove the toilet seat nuts and insert the rubber bushings.

Loop the rubber band around the toilet seat and centre the stabilisers so they touch the inside rim of the bowl. Drill a starter hole and secure the stabilisers with screws from the kit. Then install a set of toilet seat stabilisers. That’ll eliminate loosening caused by side-to-side movement.

Toilet flush handles are another part of a toilet that can cause toilets to keep running. Often handles are toilet parts that get loose or corroded and no longer pull the flap up or drop it back down properly. It’s an easy repair, but there’s a trick to getting the flush handle out. The retaining nut inside the tank is a reverse thread. So, if you’re in front of the toilet, turn the nut to the left to loosen. Then remove the old handle and lever, slide the new handle into place, and thread on the retaining nut. Tighten by turning to the right.

It doesn’t take long for the hinge screws on a toilet seat to rust, and then you have rust dust all over the toilet rim every time the seat slams. To prevent this, all you need to do is dab a little clear nail polish onto the screw heads. If the screws are already rusted, fill the holes with caulk. According to The Family Handyman reader, Mike Scholey, you’ll never have to get at the screws, because you’ll be replacing the whole seat and lid assembly someday.

Read on for more things homeowners aren’t doing but should be.

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Source: RD.com