“I blame social media,” Brent said. “Our toilet wouldn’t stop running, and one of those DIY pages said it was a quick and simple fix.” He shook his head. Armed with a post that told him how to adjust the toilet float, Brent went to work. “There’s a real difference between looking at something on your phone and seeing it in real life,” he explained. “I don’t know if it’s because we have some kind of non-standard toilet or I was just looking at everything the wrong way, but nothing looked exactly like it did on the post.”
Things went from bad to worse when Brent leaned against the toilet tank, causing it to shift out of position. “I never knew that could move,” he said. “I was worried it was going to fall, so I grabbed at it harder than I should have.” The tank didn’t fall, but it did crack. “All of a sudden, I’ve got water coming out of the side of the tank pretty fast. And of course the toilet decided that was the moment it needed to start running, giving me even more water to deal with. What a mess!”
A quick call to a Manhattan plumber provided some immediate relief. “They told me how to shut the water off to the toilet, which was something I could handle,” Brent said with a laugh. “Then they sent a crew to our house to handle the rest.” Brent’s DIY efforts had caused enough damage that the toilet needed to be replaced. “Definitely above my pay grade,” he said. “I decided to step back and just let the pros do their thing!”
Learning how to fix things in your NYC home is a good idea. Having some DIY skills will save you time, money and aggravation over the course of your lifetime. Just make sure you have a plumber in New York City on standby in case you need to call for help!
