Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Let it Mellow

Pretty much since we bought the house, Jamie and I have discussed getting a dual flush toilet (we are totally adults now). First and foremost, it saves water and secondly, it just looks kind of cool. Plus, our friends Brian and Tori have a dual flush toilet, and we always thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Thank you, B.U.T.T.!

Well, not too long ago we were presented the opportunity to replace the flusher on our toilet...because ours rusted through and ended up like this: 
Disgusting, if you're wondering.


Let's be honest, the entire back of the toilet wasn't much better:
Yummo!

So before anything new was going to be installed, it had to be cleaned up a bit.



I'm excited about this, clearly.




And now, for the dual flush. Friends at home, don't be intimidated by something like this. I went online and found a good article on doityourself.com by Brian Simkins who says "The toilet is one of the simplest mechanical items in your home, and with a basic understanding of how it works, you can fix it yourself." Hooray!!




First step is to actually buy the Dual Flush mechanism.
Ta-Da!


The instructions includes were pretty easy. First we had to remove the original flapper valve and flush lever. Then we put in the bottom piece of the dual flusher mechanism where the flapper valve was. Like so:




Then the top part of the dual flush mechanism went over it. This has two 'floats' in it to control the amount of water that goes through for each type of flush (Mellow vs. Not-So-Mellow).




Next, the actual flush buttons are put where the old flush lever was. Once it is installed, you have to adjust the float level for the "#1" flush. The instructions say to put one square of toilet paper in the bowl and adjust the float level so that the #1 flush will actually flush the toilet paper.

I recommend putting a more normal amount of toilet paper in the bowl to test (who the heck uses one square of toilet paper...ever!).





And honestly it is that easy!! Total took about an hour. 
Done and done


Mellow and Not-So-Mellow

2 comments:

  1. I seriously want to put these in both of our bathrooms! Do you think that your guests will figure it out, or will you have to give them a tutorial on their way in??

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  2. Haha - great question! We will have guests over tomorrow for a St. Patrick's Day party so we will find out. Perhaps I should print out a sign, just in case. I don't want to find a surprise when I run in to use the facilities.

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