Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It makes a funny sound

There are some subjects one just doesn't discuss much.  Like toilets.  But we've recently been going through a bathroom "refit" and suddenly the subject of toilets became quite important.

Last week was kind of "the week from hell."  I stayed at our family's cottage while the bathroom refit happened.  That way I could do some writing (pipe dream) and be on hand to answer questions about the face lift.  Only it happened to be extremely hot and HUMID, making it uncomfortable for everyone.  (Yeah, where were those lake breezes the entire week?)

From day one, everything went wrong.  Old medicine cabinet also contained a light and a plug.  Light and plug had to be rerouted.  Medicine cabinet was a different shape.  Lots of problems there.  Well, at least we won't have to replace the toilet.

But we did.  Not only did it sweat a lot, but it was cracked.  So hubby bought a new one and brought it down.

That sucker was HEAVY--or at least too heavy for me to lift out of the backseat of Hubby's car.  I left it to the contractors and went back to work.  (Cough, cough.)  A couple of hours later, the guys were ready to leave for the day and asked me to come and look at the work done.  And -- whoa!  What was that tiny (eco-friendly) toilet doing in our bathroom?

"Go ahead, give it a flush!" he encouraged.  So I did. 

Instead of the WA-SHOOM! I was used to hearing, this thing went "Blurt!"

(So that's what I've named it, Blurt.  Hubby calls it toy-let.) 

Blurt's not very good at his job.  Old toilet (which had no name) went about his business (and very well, I might add) with a three gallon tank for at least 30 years.  Blurt's been a pain in the behind in just a week.  You see, Blurt doesn't like to flush anything but water.  Blurt's purpose was to save water, but when you have to flush two--three--or even four times, it seems to be using a lot more water than our old toilet.

I'm going to be watching our water bill to see if we actually do use less (hard to tell, they charge you a minimum whether you use that amount or not).

What eco-friendly things have you found that aren't as good as their predecessors?