Image from YelpAfter many months of looking at the pieces of our disassembled 1920s Standard Low Tank Toilet, we're finally getting around to making it functional. The decision to rent the top unit of The Box House had left us with only one toilet for the three adults in our household. There are certain days, post chili night, for example, when a second toilet would come in mighty handy. Mighty. Handy.
The Standard toilet in the basement is as old as the house, and replacement parts are not easy to come by. Ted searched online, and found several sites that are obviously out to get naive customers because they charge beaucoup bucks for simple parts. We figured there had to be a better solution.
We tried Home Depot first for the heck of it, because it's around the corner from our house and we figured we might find something that would work. No dice, but the plumbing guy did send us to Clark-Devon Hardware down in Rogers Park, a place I've been meaning to make it to for a while now.Clark-Devon Hardware has been in operation since 1924, and owned and operated by three generations of the same family. This place is AMAZING, with hard-to-find house renovation supplies that you can't get anywhere else--and at pretty reasonable prices. They had everything we (think) we need to get the toilet working and we spent--ta dah--all of five bucks. The staff was very helpful and knowledgeable and we were so surprised to actually get what we needed, that I want to give them a special shout out. If you live in or near north Chicago, definitely check out this old time hardware store.
Ted's going to work on the toilet late tonight or tomorrow, so I'll post the accompanying pics later. Because our offices are also in the basement, having a second toilet here is going to be great. I know the room looks a little--ahem--crappy at the moment, but a lot of bleach to disinfect and clean it up and a new toilet seat will elevate it above most public washrooms.
5 comments:
Great story and a great toilet. People harp on old toilets because of the high water usage, but they forget the old adage "Reduce - Recycle - Reuse". You've done two of the three!
$5 worth of parts and it will last another 80 years. Put a half gallon milk jug filled with water in the tank to reduce the usage.
Agree with Greg! We shouldn't buy new until everything had had a full life! Good for you for fixing it.
We haven't gotten as far on the project as planned this week (always the case, eh?). But will hopefully have pics soon.
We are going to replace the toilet upstairs, because it's this horrible first-generation low-flush toilet that doesn't work. I just need to find a good method for disposal. Perhaps a local artist could use it?
Or.....you could put it in your yard complete with flowers....
Just kiddin' :)
It's bad when the toilet doesn't flush. At our old old house. We filled a mop bucket of water and poured into the bowl to flush for a couple months. It worked and used less water than the always running tank.
You know what? This posting is great for someone to post up direction on how to save on your water bill. Anybody and everybody wants to save on their water bill and if their was a way, Im sure we can find some money to spend on that someone or something special we want!
Sincerely,
-Gloria Rissten
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