The Jiggles, Rattles and Squeaks of Home

Remember the old toilets that required you to jiggle the handle to get them to fill properly?

If you grew up in an old house like I did, you probably had a toilet like that. It was usually a simple fix Dad could do on a Saturday when he remembered it. But with everyone trained to jiggle the handle, what was the rush?

So it didn’t get fixed for years. That was Dad’s job. Everyone still jiggled the handle, including Dad. We were astounded when visiting someone who had a toilet that didn’t require handle-jiggling. We didn’t even have to wait for the full flush to jiggle it. Who invented that? Just pull down the handle and take off. After washing our hands, of course.

When people visited us and asked to use the bathroom, we hollered after them, “You need to jiggle the handle after you flush!”

If the toilet was heard running during that one second of calm before the prayer at a family meal, there was sure to be a lot of finger-pointing immediately after the “Amen.”

Do It Yourself

There comes a time in everyone’s life when Dad isn’t around to fix things. Then it’s up to you. For example, it could just be you at college having to fix the upstairs toilet in an old off-campus house you rent with four other guys. The landlord won’t fix it until you graduate and this toilet is beyond handle-jiggling. You drew the short straw which is a good thing because some of your roommates shouldn’t be allowed to touch plumbing.

In my case, my first toilet repair was after getting married. Toilet maintenance was now in my job description. In my youth I saw the inside of a toilet only once when Dad removed the top. It was dark and creepy in there. So I avoided removing the top of any problem toilet to even learn how it works or what the problem might be. Even the thought of having to buy and install replacement parts was just not happening.

But this time I had to get dirty. Shutting off the water and flushing it to drain the tank revealed a slime-coated array of mysterious parts. Since I didn’t really know where to start, I decided to first just wipe off every part I could reach and see if that helped.

Isn’t that just how we approach things? When you look inside a device that is not functioning and realize you have no clue, the best option is to at least clean it. Carefully wipe it down, inside and out. It still may not work but at least it looks like it was maintained. At least you can’t get blamed for neglecting it. Helpful tip: this doesn’t work with old cars.

I don’t remember how I fixed that toilet but I must have. Since then I’ve become braver and repaired other toilets, even replacing the whole inner workings. You can buy parts specific to your toilet or you can buy a universal repair kit.

I’ve learned to be leery of “universal” repair kits for anything because they work for every situation except mine. You also end up with a lot of extra parts to store with your vast collection of screws, nuts and bolts.

Even More Chances to Learn

Old houses are loaded with opportunities to learn how to repair things such as doors with rattly door knobs that wouldn’t latch. Well, they do take a beating. It might just be easier to buy a complete new door latch and knob.

These repairs can be easy or difficult depending on how many previous repairs have been attempted. Prior repairs often included chiseling the door and latch area so much that nothing fit anymore, even new parts. In our old house, some of the doors were so warped that they wouldn’t fully close, precluding the need to fix the latches. Those were the doors we kicked open. The door knob rattling remained.

Squeaky hinges are the easiest to fix. Just spray some lubricant on them and work the door for a bit and you’re good to go. However, I remember hearing about a couple teenagers who got into trouble with their parents because they lubed the hinges on the door to the house so it wouldn’t squeak when they got home late.

Our house on East Seventh Street where I was raised presented numerous repair experiences. Dad was a cobbler when it came to household repairs. Just keeping things working was good enough for him.

Even if we still had to jiggle the handle.

The Jiggles, Rattles and Squeaks of Home

Remember the old toilets that required you to jiggle the handle to get them to fill properly?

If you grew up in an old house like I did, you probably had a toilet like that. It was usually a simple fix Dad could do on a Saturday when he remembered it. But with everyone trained to jiggle the handle, what was the rush?

So it didn’t get fixed for years. That was Dad’s job. Everyone still jiggled the handle, including Dad. We were astounded when visiting someone who had a toilet that didn’t require handle-jiggling. We didn’t even have to wait for the full flush to jiggle it. Who invented that? Just pull down the handle and take off. After washing our hands, of course.

When people visited us and asked to use the bathroom, we hollered after them, “You need to jiggle the handle after you flush!”

If the toilet was heard running during that one second of calm before the prayer at a family meal, there was sure to be a lot of finger-pointing immediately after the “Amen.”

Do It Yourself

There comes a time in everyone’s life when Dad isn’t around to fix things. Then it’s up to you. For example, it could just be you at college having to fix the upstairs toilet in an old off-campus house you rent with four other guys. The landlord won’t fix it until you graduate and this toilet is beyond handle-jiggling. You drew the short straw which is a good thing because some of your roommates shouldn’t be allowed to touch plumbing.

In my case, my first toilet repair was after getting married. Toilet maintenance was now in my job description. In my youth I saw the inside of a toilet only once when Dad removed the top. It was dark and creepy in there. So I avoided removing the top of any problem toilet to even learn how it works or what the problem might be. Even the thought of having to buy and install replacement parts was just not happening.

But this time I had to get dirty. Shutting off the water and flushing it to drain the tank revealed a slime-coated array of mysterious parts. Since I didn’t really know where to start, I decided to first just wipe off every part I could reach and see if that helped.

Isn’t that just how we approach things? When you look inside a device that is not functioning and realize you have no clue, the best option is to at least clean it. Carefully wipe it down, inside and out. It still may not work but at least it looks like it was maintained. At least you can’t get blamed for neglecting it. Helpful tip: this doesn’t work with old cars.

I don’t remember how I fixed that toilet but I must have. Since then I’ve become braver and repaired other toilets, even replacing the whole inner workings. You can buy parts specific to your toilet or you can buy a universal repair kit.

I’ve learned to be leery of “universal” repair kits for anything because they work for every situation except mine. You also end up with a lot of extra parts to store with your vast collection of screws, nuts and bolts.

Even More Chances to Learn

Old houses are loaded with opportunities to learn how to repair things such as doors with rattly door knobs that wouldn’t latch. Well, they do take a beating. It might just be easier to buy a complete new door latch and knob.

These repairs can be easy or difficult depending on how many previous repairs have been attempted. Prior repairs often included chiseling the door and latch area so much that nothing fit anymore, even new parts. In our old house, some of the doors were so warped that they wouldn’t fully close, precluding the need to fix the latches. Those were the doors we kicked open. The door knob rattling remained.

Squeaky hinges are the easiest to fix. Just spray some lubricant on them and work the door for a bit and you’re good to go. However, I remember hearing about a couple teenagers who got into trouble with their parents because they lubed the hinges on the door to the house so it wouldn’t squeak when they got home late.

Our house on East Seventh Street where I was raised presented numerous repair experiences. Dad was a cobbler when it came to household repairs. Just keeping things working was good enough for him.

Even if we still had to jiggle the handle.