Mt Vernon Wa toilet

Ball Plumbing works in Whatcom and Skagit Counties.

This toilet was one of 14 in a large industrial building that was being sold. The realtor wanted Ball Plumbing to repair it. Ball Plumbing wanted to run away.

We comprised and replaced the toilet.

Why caulking around a toilet is a bad idea

In Washington state, caulking around a toilet isn't code. The picture is the best explanation for the code because the caulk prevented the water from seeping out onto the bathroom floor.

Isn't that a good thing, you won't dare ask.

No, noob, it isn't a good thing.

The water was leaking for a long time, but where was it going? Not on the floor, for sure. But, it was seeping very slowly under the tile floor causing the tiles to settle and crack. Even worse is that this bathroom has twenty toilets and most of them have caulking smeared around the base.

Ball Plumbing reset this toilet with new wax rings (took 3 wax rings because the original plumbers screwed up) and removed the old caulk.

No, we didn't recaulk because it is not code for very good reasons.

New wax ring?

A common job for us is replacing the wax ring under the toilet. Quoting a price is always tricky because of rude surprises like this one.

That ring of rust is what the toilet is bolted onto. Over a few years, if the wax ring is bad, water will eat through the metal causing all sorts of problems like rotting floors and rocking toilets.

We replaced that closet flange (under $500.00) and reset the other toilets with new wax rings. The other toilets' closet flanges were fine.

Dog Days of Summer

Man, it's quiet out there and I'm lovin' it! I'm on summer schedule which means Saturday and Sunday is closed...plumber gone fishin'-type of deal. Problem is, come Monday everybody calls and I'm busier tha all git.

Yesterday I had two more disposers and today was disposer-free. I did have a whirlpool tub repair, a stoppage, a sink drain repair, and a toilet rebuild. I feel like a truck driver sometimes because of all the miles I can log.

Off for the weekend!

Wrong phone number on yellow page ad

I have a full page and a big column ad in the Yellowbook/MacGregor phone book, okay? Since this Whatcom County/Bellingham coverage is only 160,000 souls including kids, mother-in-laws, and Canadians-who-own-here, the cost isn't as high as Manhattan which has that many people per building.

This year I had the ad done by the same person who did my website. She was convenient, available, and cheap. Those of you who have made a decision based on "convenient, available, and cheap" know what the outcome is going to be....what can I say? I was busy and don't have the patience for ad work, anyway.

The header of the full page ad has the two correct numbers in 25 pt. font, but on the footer one of the numbers is off by one. It reads, in 10 pt. font, 360-733-1293 instead of 1292. At least 5 people a day call that number and they usually get an answering machine. The ones they do get through get either Mr. or Mrs. "We've had this number for 40 years and we aren't giving it up." I offered to buy the number and pay for all the costs, but they insist that this number is what has kept them alive for the last 40 years.

I may or may not survive this year....

Anyway, I did a Bellingham garbage disposer for a lady whose husband is deployed. 12 more months and he'll be home. She got the special price.

From there, it was on to Birch Bay and a Canadian toilet or is that a toilet owned by a Canadian? She was a trip---knew more about US politics than most citizens. I rebuilt her toilet and she's a happy Canuck.