Bathroom Rage–part 2

A few weeks ago I got a bit testy with some shelves in my bathroom closet.

Due to the stoner builders.

This weekend I tackled another bathroom issue.

It seemed such a straightforward idea at the time.

That is why there is no before photo.

All I wanted to do was replace a cheap white plastic over the toilet shelving unit, that was collapsing under the weight of a basket of towels, with a slightly more expensive metal shelving unit.

Who knew there would NEED to be a before photo?!?!

How hard can it be to replace something existing with something just like it?

The blog fodder potential never even crossed my mind!

*sigh*

I never learn.

Mom, probably you should just stop reading now. Because not only am I about to share photos of my toilet with the whole of the interwebs, I am also going to share photos of the dusty, hardly ever cleaned area in the corner behind my toilet.

This is the replacement shelves (bought at Wal Mart on date night Friday. Do we know how to have a good time or what?)

This is the toilet in it’s built in box

The obvious & more permanent solution to the shelving thing would be to go buy some wire shelves & their brackets and install them. But naturally there are issues with this.

a. the need for studs to screw the brackets into, which don’t exist because the walls aren’t that long  & don’t mention drywall screws – been there, done that, had shelving collapse in other areas of the house

b. the brackets would have to go more or less about where the water pipes are located, on BOTH side walls, the toilet tank pipe comes down the left wall & the shower & tub are on the right & the potential for me to drive a screw right into the PVC piping  is very very high. Especially if I am trying to avoid it.

c. of course the walls are just far enough apart to be non-standard sized so we have to buy long amounts of shelving & cut it to fit (or rather DH has to cut it because see above link for what happens when I try to saw stuff). And cutting bathroom shelving is about 19th on the list of Top 10 Home Projects.

Meanwhile, until bathroom shelving hits the Top 5 a temporary solution is needed. So I started putting together the shelving unit.

I was about 3 pieces in when my Stoner Senses began to tingle.

Something to do with the bottom of the unit.

It looked ok, but I thought it might be a good idea to try a test fit before going any further with this project.

Hellz. The pipe is in the way of the lower support piece.

I wondered if maybe I could disconnect the toilet tank & then slide the thing under the pipe & then reconnect the toilet tank, though that will make it nearly impossible to screw together because the screws are on the OUTSIDE of the unit & there is no room to fit a screwdriver between the wall & the unit.

I wondered if we had a short screwdriver?

Hellz. Doesn’t matter about the screwdriver.

The support piece is the EXACT SAME HEIGHT as the pipe.

I wondered just how flexible pvc piping is anyway. Then I wondered if I really needed that support piece. Then I wondered if I could replace the pvc pipe with some flexi pipe that would fit over or under the support piece as needed.

What I needed was a second opinion.

And a hacksaw.

Or better still, someone with a hacksaw to give me a second opinion & then act on it.

So I dragged DH away from some important tree cutting to come in and consider my problem.

He said no the pvc pipe isn’t that flexible, yes you can replace it with flexi piping, no he wasn’t going to do that & yes the support piece was probably needed.

Then he said he’d cut it out anyway & spot weld another piece in it’s place somewhat higher.

For the record, DH enjoys playing with his welding stuff more than playing with the plumbing.

He bought the welding stuff so it is a known quantity, whereas the plumbing was put in by stoners & therefor has “Here Be Dragons” written on it on the house blueprints.

Slightly altered support piece

New shelving unit.

From now on I will change nothing, not even bed sheets, in this house without a BEFORE photo.

Oh sure, I’ve changed the sheets hundreds of times so far with no problems but sooner or later my luck will run out & I’ll need a before photo to prove it.