Home and Garden Answers and Expertise
If you notice your toilet is rocking a little -or, a lot, an inspection of the toilet flange (or, closet flange) is in order. If left unchecked it will eventually leak. Over the longer term, the leaking toilet will cause the floor and sub-flooring to deteriorate causing the leak to become worse.
A common problem in an older home -after decades of condensation around the base of the toilet, the sub-flooring becomes deteriorated and the toilet will rock slightly. If not given prompt attention, it is a downward spiral. The longer it goes without attention, the weaker the floor becomes and the more it will rock back and forth. The worse it gets, the more it leaks as the wax seal is compromised. Have no fear. Replacing a toilet is a relatively clean job and isn’t that difficult a task.
At the kitchen sink, the problem that is of most concern is some kind of leak. If a leak is discovered in the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink, it is in your best interest not to ignore it or defer the maintenance, but, to evaluate the situation at your earliest convenience. Often a worn faucet valve assembly will allow water leakage which will be evident on the top side of the faucet assembly. A replacement parts kit is usually available for your make / model of leaky faucet.
We talk about ‘sweating a joint” or “sweating copper pipe.” It is the same as “soldering copper pipe.” Sweating and soldering -both references mean the same thing. To explain, for the benefit of the uninitiated, copper piping is joined with fittings of different configurations. A ‘coupling’ joins two straight sections, an elbow is used to fashion a 90 degree angle. There are other configurations -a 45 degree, for example, that enables one to route the pipe just about wherever you need to go, as well as fittings which allow the transition to a male or female threaded connection (threaded adapter).