Spent 4 hours trying to fix a toilet that just needed a $3 part

Honestly, I thought my toilet was done for. It kept running nonstop after flushing, and I assumed the whole fill valve was busted. I wasted a whole Saturday taking it apart, watching YouTube tutorials, and even drove to Home Depot twice for the wrong parts. Turns out it was just the rubber flapper that had worn down after 5 years. Took me 4 hours to figure out what a plumber could have fixed in 10 minutes. Has anyone else made a simple repair way harder than it needed to be?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul_taylor2115d ago

Man I used to always think I was saving money by DIYing everything but after a similar experience with my garbage disposal I totally get it now. Did you end up keeping the extra parts you bought by mistake?

uma_williams14d ago

Held onto them thinking they'd come in handy for the next project, didn't you? How many of those parts have you actually used since then?

elizabethmason15d ago

Paul, I gotta push back a little here because DIY has saved me way more than it's cost me over the years. I mean sure I messed up my garbage disposal once and ended up with a whole set of extra pipe fittings that are still sitting in my garage, but that one mistake taught me how to fix every future issue myself. YouTube tutorials are free, labor costs are insane now, and you know exactly what parts you're using when you do it yourself. @paul_taylor21 you probably still came out ahead even with the scrap pile - the plumber would've charged you triple what those extra parts cost and used cheaper stuff anyway.