Steve did nothing this morning except assist the plumbers. Steve knew more about putting the toilet in than the plumbers. The first plumber that came seemed to know more than the other two. I think that the other two were apprentices. We knew that the toilet bowl was cemented onto the tile but we did not know that they had filled the hollow underside of the toilet with cement. Of course when the guy tried to chisel through the cement the base of the toilet broke into several pieces. We are not exactly sure why they used the cement unless they did not have the means of drilling through the cement. Once the toilet bowl was out we noticed a rectangular hole in the cement. It was the perfect size for a 2×4 piece of lumber. I am sure that was my dad’s creation! The hole lined up almost perfectly with the holes in the new toilet. Steve cut a piece of wood, glued it in the hole with liquid nail (that we brought from the states), added a couple of lead anchors and screwed the toilet to the wood. The plumbers added a layer of silicone around the base of the toilet. It took them a long time to put on the tank and get the leaks stopped. At the moment we have no leaks. Steve wants us to give it a couple days before we start using it.
We mixed paint this afternoon and Steve patched the holes in the wall. The original tank was hung on the wall. Last time we were in Tamale Steve bought a new flex hose for the toilet. After the patch dried we mixed paint to match the wall color and Steve painted around the toilet and behind the bookcase. It is looking much better. The toilet looks nice; I sure hope that it will flush better than the old one. The toilet in the apartment is like a midget toilet. The plumber, mason or whoever did not raise the toilet before they added a layer of cement and a layer of tile to the floor. If that toilet ever has to be replaced it will be a nightmare! You have to remember that 22 years ago when Dad built this house almost no one in Yendi had a flush toilet and there were no plumbing stores in Yendi so they made do with what they could find.
Red stopped by this afternoon. He is working on the metal steps to access the roof. He had a problem. He had miss cut a whole stick of 2 inch metal pipe. He was confused about how to cut the pipe. He really wanted us to say that we would let him use the mis-cut pipe but the steps would have only had a 6 inch rise and it would have taken so many more steps to get to the roof. Why he did not cut a few pieces to see how it was going to work before he cut so many pieces is beyond me. Part of the problem was a language barrier. We thought that he was sitting one piece of pipe on top of the other when in fact he cut right angles on the pipe. He was sick about the wasted material but had nothing to do now but buy another stick of pipe.
Have a good day.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
