Ack! Water leak!

I've been trying to snake out the sinks in the two second floor bathrooms. Since they both back up to the same wall, it is difficult, becuase the snake is inclined to go into the drainpipe for the other sink rather than down the drain. I had to take apart the trap, of course, because it is impossible to get the snake down the drain.



Anyway, it seems that I managed to jostle the tank of the beautiful original toilet sitting next to the sink, or so the coming events would tend to indicate. On Thursday, feeling absolutely awful and realizing I really needed sleep so that I might get better, I called in sick. Around 1 in the afternoon, A. noticed that there was water dripping through the library ceiling! I ran around, trying to catch the water, protect the contents of the library, and shut off the pipes.

The secondary shut off valve for the second floor bathrooms was so old as to not be terribly functional - when I shut it off, it started spraying water all over the place in the basement. This does not portend well for the other shut off valves down there. Anyway, I was finally able to trace the leak to the toilet shown above - water was leaking from the tank, dripping onto the floor.

When the plumber and general contractor came, they found that the mounting bolts for the toilet on the floor and wall had completely rusted away. They can get the parts, so it's just a matter of waiting for that to happen. Meh.

Now I'm just looking for a way to fix the damaged finish of the floor in the library. It looks all gray from the water. First, of course, we will try to wash the floor - I hope a certain amount of this is just plaster dust.

I'm torn between really really needing another good day of rest and starting to tackle the ceiling in the library.