Terrible QC - Toilet Edition

[slow-poke]

FWIW, original 1973 toilet and bathroom, wax seal, no leaks, plywood just fine, that's almost 50 years.

It was definitely time for a reno. Original cast iron soaker tub (oh so comfortable but period dated yellow), was so heavy two guys could barely move it an inch. They ended up smashing it to pieces with a sledge hammer to get it out, took them half a day.

 

[Tom O]

Gotta love a soaker tub

 

[Elektrishun]

FWIW, original 1973 toilet and bathroom, wax seal, no leaks, plywood just fine, that's almost 50 years.

It was definitely time for a reno. Original cast iron soaker tub (oh so comfortable but period dated yellow), was so heavy two guys could barely move it an inch. They ended up smashing it to pieces with a sledge hammer to get it out, took them half a day.

First place I moved into after leaving my family house was a basement suite in a 1950's era apartment building. The place was tiny.

But the cast iron tub (pea soup green) - two people could lay in it fully stretched out. That was a great tub.

 

[slow-poke]

Gotta love a soaker tub

When shopping for a new tub, we could not find a single tub nearly as comfortable as the original. They just don't make them like that anymore. We looked, we shopped we failed. The new tubs have ridiculously tall sides and even the 36" wide versions are narrow compared to old cast iron one we had. If there is one thing I miss from the 1973 era bathroom it's that tub.

 

[Tom O]

What about getting one reconditioned has anyone tried it?

 

[skippyelwell]

Speaking of toilets...

As a child of the 70's my parents house had carpet in the bathroom. They also had the matching carpet set that went over the seat and around the base. Maybe it covered the top of the tank, too.

Such an unsanitary idea for a bathroom and yet we survived. Probably gave us super powers compared to kids today.

Ah it all comes back to me like it was just yesterday, because the carpet lid cover wouldn't allow the seat to stay up by itself, we all had to learn the trick of wedging our knee up against it to keep the lid from falling into the stream of pee.

 

[whydontu]

Was Crane the company that had the massive recall or class action lawsuit in the 80s? I remember lots of exploding tanks and resultant lawsuits.

Yup, that was us. Toilet tanks are two pieces of pottery, glued together with thick grout (slip). Fired at low temp to cure the grout. Smooth off any divots and rough bits, then glaze and finish fire the glaze. Plant is closing? Cool, we’ll speed up production by not using the slip and we’ll just stick the tank halves together with the glaze. We get paid $20 piecework per tank, can produce a lot more tanks a day if no grout is used.

Fast forward to post installation. Home owner goes to bed.Wakes up at 3:00 AM and has to pee. Toilet tank is filled with water that has risen to room temperature. Home owner flushes the toilet. Tank immediately fills with municipal water, typically at +45*F. Thermal shock. Eventually, sometimes in three cycle, sometimes in three hundred cycles, the glaze cracks and the tank reverts to the original two pieces. Fill valve never shuts off, flood starts.

 

[BldrJ]

When shopping for a new tub, we could not find a single tub nearly as comfortable as the original. They just don't make them like that anymore. We looked, we shopped we failed. The new tubs have ridiculously tall sides and even the 36" wide versions are narrow compared to old cast iron one we had. If there is one thing I miss from the 1973 era bathroom it's that tub.

Toto and Kohler still make cast iron tubs. Not sure how comfy they are though, but they sure are heavy.

 

[6.5 Fan]

I have a marble tub, that sucker takes a lot of water to warm up so you can soak in it. Took 4 men to lug it in to the house, i've been debating taking it out in chunks.