A little light plumbing

Our toilet hasn't flushed well for some time, and I've been putting the job off. I did buy the toilet guts but set them aside for a weekend I didn't work. Then I wanted to get the taxes done first. Etc., etc....

So, I finally knuckled down today. Tried to turn the water off at the toilet - we have a convenient shutoff right there. I got it almost all the way off, but there was still a slight dribble and I was afraid if I cranked on it any harder (using a wrench by this time), I'd break it right off. A Sunday emergency plumber and a flood was not the way I wanted to spend the day. I decided I could tolerate the dribble with a well-placed bucket and a couple towels.

So I emptied the tank as well as I could and lifted off the part with the float. This left what I will refer to as the water inlet tube (I don't know any of the actual part names), which I had to detach from the water supply by unscrewing a plastic collar under the tank. That sucker was fused as fused could be to the inlet tube. It also required another set of hands to keep the tube from turning while I tried to budge the collar. I got it loosened enough to leak the water that kept dribbling into the tank - I had to empty the bucket three times before I was through. But those two parts were not separating, ever, till death do them part.

I finally gave up and gave in to DH's suggestion that we just call a plumber on Monday. Screwed the collar back tight, so the tank stopped leaking. Put the float part back on top of the inlet tube. Turned on the water.

And went to tell DH to stop looking up plumbers. I don't know what I did, but it works like new now.