One toilet at a time

I was staying with a friend in her one bedroom rental apartment, over the weekend, and was bothered by the drippy toilet all night long. Talked to her about fixing it, but finally decided to take a look at it myself. The top was jammed, which turned out to be due to the metal tissue box wedged on top of it. After removing it (which must be the reason why my friend thought the problem was not fixable), I figured out what made it leak. An old mechanical arm needed to be propped up. After searching around her kitchen sink cabinet, I found an old piece of foamy plastic. Folding it several times made the plastic thick enough to be jammed into the tiny space that lifted the arms sufficiently.

I tested the flush several times. Seems to work fine. The dripping slowed significantly after the tank was full. (I can still see a little ripple but no more noise, and much less ripple. Will need to learn more about fixing toilets to stop it completely.) Yipee!!! I hope it continues to work. All it took was some will to do more investigation. It feels so good to solve a problem.

Judging from a quick Google search it probably saved between 22 to 100 gallons of water per day.

Tip: Even if you toilet is not obviously leaking, check it for hidden leaks. If food coloring placed in the tank leaks into the bowl within about 15 minutes, you have a leak to fix! Time to whip out those thinking hats.