To have displayed these artefacts on the ground floor would have seemed crass. But how about doors on the upper landing? Here are two (the pic in between is a print of a Robert Motherwell's painting, Je t'Aime.). Surely a fairly modest act of vanity?
ATTACHING toilet seats - a job that's irritated the Hell out of me ever since I became a home owner.
The hinge system has a basic flaw: a headless screw which screws into what is, in effect, a blind "nut" mounted on a brass plate.
Because the "nut" is blind one may only rotate the screw two or three full turns and that's it. It's inherently insecure. This becomes apparent when one screws a nut to the other end of the headless screw to secure the hinge to the toilet pan. It's fatally easy to unscrew the end attached to the blind "nut".
Yes, I understand the principle of adding another nut to give a locking action. But this depends on tightening the second nut without engaging the first nut. I have presently achieved temporary security by adding a third nut.
Question 1. How about a squirt of super-glue into the blind "nut" before tighting up the headless screw?
Question 2. I believe there are alternative attachment systems although they are not typically fitted to new toilet seats. Are these any good?
I've never seen a "headless" bolt used in this situation. Old school here is a metal bolt with a wide asymmetrical head. A metal nut over a rubber washer secures the other (bottom) end. As with the mousetrap, everyone strives to build a better clamp here. Some plastic ones mimic the standard metal, and may break before the porcelain does if over-tightened. There is no other advantage to them. And there are many others, including some that mushroom like expanding wall anchors. New seats often come with the latest gimmick. Extremely annoying.
ReplyDeleteMikeM: You've been there and done that, which is more than be said for the three plumbing supplies outlets I visited yesterday. Mind you I spoke to all three like a surly John the Baptist, mad to have them understand. In the end, all three - hangdog because plumbers don't care to have revelation thrust upon by a member of the non-plumbing laity - grasped the point. The last guy was the most inarticulate but gradually, though a fog imposed by the thinness of his vocabulary, a new design emerged. He went into the warehouse, brought out the familiar flattish box, we opened the mini-pack of fitments, and there was the manifestation of my dreams. I was apprehensive about the price but £26 is a cheap route to epiphany. However fulfilment must wait awhile. The last improvisation (adding a second locking nut) is working and it must have its day in the sun.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say the plumbing world is poetic but a pragmatic rectitude is there to be found.
Well now,and I thought tea towels were used for drying dishes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not on toilet seats (mine seem to be secure - perhaps you wriggle more on 'em?), I frequently use superglue to secure nuts on bolts on various items of machinery. I have even used it to fix decorations on a reconstructed Roman army scabbard and it is perfect for "finishing off" when sewing items of leather with wax thread.
Avus: "thought" suggests lack of hands-on experience. Shouldn't be a bit surprised.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you are lighter than me. Perhaps - and I'm being purely speculative - not given to as much introspection on these heaven-sent occasions.
I will, however, bow the knee to your greater experience with what a friend of mine - who was good at it - called mechanicking. Are you able to get a super-glued nut off if the need arises? Or do you only pick nuts that will never need detaching? Sewing leather is a task I seem to have avoided but I can see the advantages. The traditional way of finishing-off involves complex binding and a way with knots, probably dating back to the Middle Ages. Using super-glue falls into the category of "Work smarter, not harder." and is to be applauded.
Ei jei jei, all I know is that I had a moment of success when I installed my first bamboo toilet seat ... me ... a female with a toolkit ... Prost!
ReplyDeleteRW (zS): Followed by several hundred more moments of success, I trust.
ReplyDeletePS: I know what your word "Prost" means but it isn't my immediate reaction. A Frenchman of that surname was world champion F1 driver in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993.