this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023

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YSK: toilets and garbage disposals are some of the simplest devices to replace in a home (self.youshouldknow)

submitted 1 year ago by ritswd to c/youshouldknow

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Both their functionings are complex, so people can get impressed. But for both of them, all the complexity is inside the device and there isn’t much to put together; and the way they hook up to your house is really simple.

Why YSK: so you don’t live too long with a broken toilet or garbage disposal, thinking it will be too hard to replace. Those two are some of the simplest things to DIY.

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[–] T156 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In fairness, the hard part of replacing a toilet isn't the replacing of it, it's moving it about, and having to deal with the mess.

A plumber is usually better equipped for that, and would know what to expect, whereas someone who is less experienced might end up destroying the toilet and/or splashing water everywhere (if they have a siphonic toilet), or breaking something else.

A tap is probably easier to replace, by comparison.

[–] Fondots 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In theory a tap is easier to replace, but every time I've gone to replace a faucet I'll be damned if I didn't spend at least twice as long as I thought I would contorted under the sink at an odd angle muttering curses to myself.

Big game changer for me with faucets was when it dawned on me that those shitty plastic nuts that like 90% of all faucets are held on by that are next to impossible to get a good grip on are like $2 a pop and the new faucet probably came with new ones anyway, so why the hell do I care about getting them off in one piece? I just take a chisel to them now.

Replaced a garbage disposal recently and it was pretty damn painless, I could get at everything pretty well from a comfortable seated position on the floor outside of the sink, no need to crawl under there or grope around blindly. The old one actually went on me about an hour before I was hosting a party. I was expecting it to be a pain in the ass, my usual DIY buddy was at my party and I gave him a heads-up that I might be hitting him up the next day if I needed a hand. After everyone left at the end of the night I watched a couple of YouTube videos, then pulled out the old garbage disposal, took me maybe about 20 minutes. Went to bed, woke up and ran to the hardware store the next morning and had the new one installed by noon and didn't need to hit up my friend for help. Probably would have had it installed by about 10 or 11 but I had to make a second trip to the hardware store because my disposal is hard-wired and I needed to run out for a cable connector because the new one didn't come with one (would have reused themone from the old one, but it didn't have the nut, the old disposal was actually threaded for the cable connector and the new one wasn't.

I haven't replaced a whole toilet yet (although I've taken them apart and replaced all of the internals and installed bidets) but really you just turn off and disconnect the water, undo a couple bolts, and then you pretty much just pick them up. They're a bit heavy and awkward, but there's not much to it otherwise, it almost seems like it's too simple to actually work but it does.

[–] ritswd 2 points 1 year ago

I would disagree that taps are easier, I replaced taps before, and not only are P-traps pretty hard to put together, but it can also be kinda tough reaching to the connections under there.

But I take your point that I’m an able-bodied person able to carry the toilet off and another toilet on. If anyone is not, then yeah they’re pretty nasty to lift, so you might want to call a professional indeed if only just for that.

I have a siphonic toilet and it wasn’t particularly splashy, but I did sponge all the inside water out before taking it off. I can imagine that it would have been a mess if I hadn’t.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know anyone that has a garbage disposal In their sink. But my garbage cans are probably even easier to replace if they are broken

[–] impulse 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I also don't really get it, never saw one in my life here in central Europe, but they seem to be pretty standard in the US.

[–] throwawayainteasy 3 points 1 year ago

They're pretty great for reducing the volume of your waste for those of us who care about such things. Supposedly they can also help increase the longevity of your pipes by reducing gunk buildup. And when I lived in a tiny apartment, it was pretty nice for getting rid of smellier foods instead of letting them sit in the trashcan or having to haul it out to the dumpster.

I lived a long time without one and wouldn't say they're a necessity or a big game changer or anything. But it's a pretty nice convenience.

[–] ritswd 2 points 1 year ago

I grew up in France and now live in the US, so when I moved into my house and the garbage disposal was broken, I shrugged it off and didn’t replace it for 4 years. Who needs that thing anyway?

And then it started getting so full of stuff it was clogging that sink entirely, so I had to replace it; and oh my, that thing is so convenient! Now I think it would be difficult getting used to not having one.

To be clear, nothing about it is indispensable, it’s 100% convenience.

For my first grown-up apartment in France, I didn’t mitigate this issue at all, I’d let bits of food into the sink all the time when cleaning dishes. Once in a while, the drain would clog, so I’d have to get under the sink, dismantle the P trap under there, clean it, and put it back together. It was annoying, but I didn’t think about it too much.

Then I moved in with my wife, and she got us little metal grids to put on top of the drain to catch stuff before it gets there. It was an improvement, I almost never had to unclog it anymore; but it still had constraints. The food would get stuck in it and then it was pretty nasty to clean up; and while you could throw most of the food bits in the trash, getting it real clean so the food stuck in it wouldn’t rot and smell required water… and therefore still putting some smallest bits of food into the drain. So, it would still need to be unclogged, even though a lot more rarely. Because of that, I had learned to scrape dishes harder into the garbage if they had stuff that would be nastier to clean up in that little metal filter later.

But now with a garbage disposal, none of that matters anymore. Of course I still empty large bits of food into the garbage because I’m not a madman; but past that, I don’t have to think about anything else, I clean dishes in that sink, and then when I’m done, I press the button. All foods will be crushed anyway, so I don’t think about it. And of course I never have to unclog anything, since the whole point is that it unclogs itself. Nice!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

American here, at least in my area (upper midwest) they're pretty rare too. I don't have one, and I think I've seen one or two houses in my life that actually do

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Kitchen sink disposals are awesome! Why fill up your trash with stuff that's going to stink when you can just reduce it into particles the size of grains of sand, complete with energy free transportation to sewage processing (or your septic system)?

They don't clog your pipes or anything; human excrement is much more sticky than the stuff you're supposed to send into the disposal. Disposals are basically small macerators which is what waste processing/sewage lines use to make sure that your poo can make it smoothly through lift stations and processing facilities.

People say things like, "if you put grease down there it can clog your pipes!" which is 100% true whether or not you use a disposal. The disposal doesn't even factor into that equation; it's irrelevant.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only applies if the toilet mechanism isn't built into the wall.

[–] ritswd 1 points 1 year ago

Oh, yeah, true. I never had one of those, so I didn’t think about it.

[–] kat 4 points 1 year ago

I was really apprehensive about working on some toilet repairs (replacing everything inside the tank). I bought a kit from Home Depot and it was basically like a giant game of adult LEGOs, complete with an illustrated instruction book. Annoyingly, I had to cut all of the existing bolts, which was difficult, and the kit only came with 2 bolts instead of the 3 I needed, but other than that, it's not rocket surgery.

[–] TheVampireSaga 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When in doubt, look up a YouTube guide.

[–] ritswd 1 points 1 year ago

“Something something diy” is my most common YouTube search pattern. 😂

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also, a lot of the stuff in a toilet can be replaced, so you don't necessarily need to spend hundreds of dollars on a new toilet when maybe a 50 dollar gasket kit will do the trick.

[–] Fondots 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's really only about 4 reasons to replace your whole toilet.

You don't like how your toilet looks and want to get a prettier one.
Your toilet is physically cracked and broken, like if someone flushed a cherry bomb or took a hammer to it or something.
You have an old toilet and want one that's more water efficient (and even then there may be a couple option you can use to work around it, like installing a dual flush valve, or sticking a brick or something in the tank to displace some of the water and see if it still flushes well enough)
Something else broke in your toilet and you have some weird, non-standard toilet that you absolutely cannot get parts for. For probably 90% of the toilets out there you can use whatever the hardware store carries that says it's a universal fit and for most of the other 10% you can use one of the two things that are right there next to it on the shelf.

Other than than those reasons, you can go buy a kit to replace basically all of your toilets internal parts for like $25-$30 that will fix basically any other issue your likely having, for another $20-$30 you can replace the wax ring and flange if that's what's causing your issue, and that will account for about 99% of any issues you're ever likely to have with your throne, and all you'll need to do it is a screwdriver and a crescent wrench (and maybe some WD-40 or your penetrating oil of choice if you have some rusted up bolts)

In case anyone feels emboldened to fix their own toilet after reading that, for a few extra bucks you can upgrade to a dual flush valve that will fit most toilets and help you save a little water, and while you have everything apart anyway go ahead and install a bidet.

[–] kat 1 points 1 year ago

I bought and broke a few tools trying to remove the bolts, and WD-40 didn't do jack for my rust problems, so I also ended up having to buy a mini hack saw and extra bolts. It was still an interesting endeavor. I would still do it myself again.

[–] ritswd 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I had to replace both my toilets, because they both cracked within 6 months of each other! Part of it is possibly that I’m quite unlucky, but part of it is also probably that they both just very old.

Definitely agreed that if your issue is not as fundamental and is something working weird in the tank for instance, the failing part is most likely easy and cheap to replace in isolation.

[–] Ryan213 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You lost me at the DIY part. Lol

[–] ritswd 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hah, fair enough. 😆

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Why would I want to replace the rubbish disposal team? They're people too, you know!