As a handyman I encourage my clients to call at the first sign of a problem, because little things can led to costly repairs if they are not corrected right away. I have seen low cost repairs deferred and turn into an expensive repair. I had a client call me when the ceiling in the kitchen was lying on the kitchen table. I found the upstairs toilet loose and the wax ring on the toilet was leaking. When I asked the client about it, she said that the toilet had been loose for six months or more. The toilet repair was inexpensive, but by waiting on the toilet repair they got a large bill from me to repair the ceiling in the kitchen.
Here is an example of an eight-year-old finding this type of problem early enough:
The Client Wrote:
We have lived in our two-story house for ten years, with very little maintenance problems. But just last week I noticed a stain on the first floor ceiling, right below the upstairs bathroom. My eight year old mentioned to me that the toilet up stairs was loose. After seeing the stain, I went up and checked the toilet, to find it is loose.
Can this be the cause of the stain?
My Reply:
It is likely that this could be the cause of your stain. There is a waxed ring in between the toilet and where it attaches to the base drain. This waxed ring makes a tight seal to prevent leaking at this connection. When this seal is in working order, the toilet is tight. If the toilet gets loose, the wax ring is not making a good seal, and leaking can occur. You should replace the wax ring as soon as possible to avoid costly ceiling repairs.
Call your local handyman and take the kid fishing.
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