The Curious Case of the Exploding Toilet :: The Mysterious Crack & Its Damage

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Click here for the 1st part of this incredible & true story 

I saw Steve last night. We had dinner at my mom’s, and ok – the exploding toilet didn’t actually explode. About a month ago, and when Steve returned home from vacation, he had found that the toilet tank in his 2nd floor bathroom had developed a rather large crack.

This mysterious crack, as he tells me now, was approximately 1/8 inch wide and ran from above the flush handle, down and all the way around to the back of the tank’s base. It was large enough, as he estimates, to spill about a gallon of water every 15 minutes . . . . And over the course of week, it dumped enough water to cause lots and lots of damage.

$10,000 worth of damage, to be exact, or at least this is what the insurance company has given him for the repairs. The restoration is now underway.

It Could Happen

I mentioned in original post that he initially feared his insurance policy would not cover this type of damage. Luckily it did. And as Steve tells me, the insurance adjuster did in fact mention that this type of disaster is not as uncommon as you would think.

The toilet was, I confirmed, the original toilet in the house — 25 years of dedicated service – just to fail like this. And I asked him – did you take pictures? Steve said, No, no, I didn’t.”

I guess I really can’t blame him – and he now promises that he will send a pic of the now completely uncoupled piece of china. I guess, when disaster strikes, recording events is sometimes the last thing on one’s mind.

Nonetheless – and I asked him – do you think you will every go away on vacation again and not shut off the water main? His answer, No way.

Just today – he and the contractor he is working with are going to try to figure a solution for a set of first-floor joints (one almost as much as ¾ of a inch) that appeared to have deflected under the weight of inches of water. He has some options with this – all of which, as I discussed with him, are, well, challenging.