# Sh!tt!est Sh!tter SS Service Call!



## SSP (Dec 14, 2013)

FYI The SS is my company name Superior Systems and is what i call my Service Calls 

Ahh so this is why we are never to silicone behind a toilet 😒... So when an issue arises, it will "show itself"... 

Exactly what happened today as i got a call to West Edmonton Mall (which is the worst place to work on a friday IMO.. But thats neither here nor there) restaurant on bourbon street had brown fluids discharging out the back of handicap mens toilet

The hacks from not gonna say Mechanical Ltd didn't do a good job installing the floor flange, it was 3/4" below the tile... the jumbo wax/horn didn't even compress... I coulda re-used it if i really wanted too, but turfed it anywho... You'll see why! 

The amazing part is this toilet didn't leak at all when flushed not anywhere visible not even out the back yet. But when moved or rocked from being sat on the waste would eek out the backside ... The brass flange was cracked on both sides, so it had no real t-bolt support, just one was actually tight the other was floating loosely only holding the poly cap on :laughing; 

The thick bead of silicone held this bad boy in place for the better part of 3 years...however eventually the excessive build up of urine and black waste completely eroded the metal fasteners holding down the brass flange and literally all sh!t broke loose .

It was disgustingly caked on thick... I had junior suit up and scrape away, took over an hour to scrape and clean this crap up properly. We had to use power tools and i didn't want 1000 different combinations of human waste potentially infested with diseases and viruses to catch one of us in the eye or even get on any tools, not to mention we needed to drill new inserts for flange etc. So went all out Tivec suit, gloves, booties and glasses. 











Smells much worse than it looked i promise


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## dclarke (Dec 22, 2012)

And I though replacing a toilet flange at a Walmart was bad.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

So you put the dirty ring in the lav???


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

rjbphd said:


> So you put the dirty ring in the lav???


I had the same thought. :laughing:


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

There will come a time when you'll think back to that service call and think it wasn't as nasty you thought then.


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## ibeplumber (Sep 20, 2011)

Phat Cat said:


> I had the same thought. :laughing:


same here...


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## spamispeople (Feb 21, 2009)

I'd feel lucky seeing that when I pulled a toilet compared to what I've dealt with at the restaurants my company services.


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## redbeardplumber (Dec 4, 2012)

Pics of repair?


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

redbeardplumber said:


> Pics of repair?


 RedBeard! Ramo blocked 41 shots to barely win the game!


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## alberteh (Feb 26, 2012)

Personally i would've just dumped a whole bunch of bleach over the area, then mop up with paper towels (while wearing gloves and safety glasses) I don't think i would've bothered with any tyvek. 

any repair pictures?


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Another improperly set flange...

Seen one you've seen them all...


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## Gruvplumbing (Dec 26, 2013)

Is it not common for anyone else to have to deal with toilets like thAt on a weekly bases? Also just wondering, do you really suit up for something so minor?


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Gruvplumbing said:


> Is it not common for anyone else to have to deal with toilets like thAt on a weekly bases? Also just wondering, do you really suit up for something so minor?












I use a Tyvek suit when crawling under the house, but not to pull and re-set a W/C. But maybe the OP uses flat rate and he's really reaching for those add-ons to beef up the bill to grab that monthly bonus....:laughing:


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## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

Gruvplumbing said:


> Is it not common for anyone else to have to deal with toilets like thAt on a weekly bases? Also just wondering, do you really suit up for something so minor?


I thought the same thing !


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## SSP (Dec 14, 2013)

That lav worked great to show the crack :yes: :laughing: 
We had the proper cleaning supplies on hand already, so when in rome... :whistling2:

We always save scrap copper and brass, so it gets recycled, no matter how dirty, leave no scrap metals behind ! We also regularly take pictures to share with the contractor to show proof of damages & for our own documentation. :thumbsup: .... . but unfortunately there are no Repair Pictures of this due to the nature of these conditions and how unbearable it became... as soon as i had the chance, that toilet was re-installed tested and we were on to the next one..

In Hindsight you guys are totally right the job wasn't really bad at all just a little stinky and messy. Which didn't help me considering I've been fighting off a stomach flue since wed, and the mall (still one of the worlds biggest) on a Friday night was super hectic and shoulder to shoulder masses of people creeping around like zombies was frustrating mostly because i already had 2 high priority jobs booked for that day and carrying heavy tool bags 2 miles across a mall is never as enjoyable experience to a worker as it would be say a shopper :yes:

The biggest problem was the fact that i was massively ill-prepared for a service call, that i thought i could complete during lunch break transitioning between the two high priority jobs from the south end to the west side. I only got the call at coffee break and though he11s ya, i'll take a quick look at a lucrative service call!! As i was closing a coffee shop this weekend and had to rough-in a new lung doctors clinic in a large medical building on the west side before Saturday morning. End result was a 20min expected job took hours longer day than anticipated .. which put us even more behind schedule! hence why i had no time to finish posting this 

Ya the tivec was overkill but i gave my new helper the options for safety gear as it was easiest to hand him the cc and send him to a store in the mall for safety gear, after all he was expected to clean up 

The finished result was simple after cleaning, trimming old PVC (internal pipe cutter) so it was flush with concrete, primed and glued in a new PVC floor flange into 4" PVC. Used Rotary M18 drill to use TAPCONS to secure flange down permanently. Then Added my favorite NYLON t bolts, those nice plastic things the oldschoolers can't wrap their heads around , and a new wax-seal :yes:
Re-installed, tested for leaks, applied new silicone base over front of bowl a done as dinner. Still a crappy old toilet and the actual work i expected to do was still done in 20min, it just took awhile to get to that point so like i said no time for pictures when your covered in sh!t itching to get out and on your way !


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

Not trying to be rude but I would take that job in heart beat over the grinders and pumps I pulled out friday at vo tech school. Pumped out all the poopys and then climb in remove old hard were and install new. I had no jump suits went to the local good will and picked up some shoes and a mechanics suit threw both away and went to the next job to clear a urinal now that sucked


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## SSP (Dec 14, 2013)

Ya dude no offense taken ! Like i said i don't do service work so handling other people poop sucks for me, never even unplugged someone toilet in my career... the worst i see on the reg are old urinals drains out of bars 
... I suppose i got spoiled down the years as i remember as a first year being sent down man-holes on lift stations and all sorts of nasty work that after awhile i got to pass it off to apprentices like it was to me and then moved on to new construction for several years 
I was really amazed at how quickly everything rotted out and fell apart because of that little leak , its one of those flawed installs that always seems to show up after warranty so nobody learns from it, prob a journeyman out there still bragging at how fast he set that bad-boy !


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## PipemanNYC (Nov 21, 2008)

Unless you've worked in a crawlspace under a housing project full of raw sewage infested with thousands of water bugs no lighting and ratholes ...
id do that flange in a heartbeat .. Without any gloves on,,,,,, lol


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## dclarke (Dec 22, 2012)

PipemanNYC said:


> Unless you've worked in a crawlspace under a housing project full of raw sewage infested with thousands of water bugs no lighting and ratholes ...
> id do that flange in a heartbeat .. Without any gloves on,,,,,, lol


I went to a call the other day, crawl full of water with an oil slick and a septic tank smells better. I told em they need to call someone to clean out the mess before I go down there.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

revenge said:


> Not trying to be rude but I would take that job in heart beat over the grinders and pumps I pulled out friday at vo tech school. Pumped out all the poopys and then climb in remove old hard were and install new. I had no jump suits went to the local good will and picked up some shoes and a mechanics suit threw both away and went to the next job to clear a urinal now that sucked


urinals are the nastiest things to work on ever imo,no way to keep the piss of you and your tools,stink oh man do they stink.


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## SSP (Dec 14, 2013)

And somehow people in retail think they are the most under appreciated people in the world....


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