Thrift

I don't know what the hell happened here. This is one of my snazzy new black toilet seats (this one from the top floor bath) -almost brand new. The hinge to the seat lid totally blew out. It's like a ghost did this or something because for real no one has owned to it. In reality, Kit probably stood on the seat and it became tweaked somehow. 

Whatever the causal event, the reason it happened is because, well, composite material. This thing is just basically molded pulp and that shit isn't very strong.

The thing is, I hate waste and I'm pretty good at fixing things so I set out to repair this thing. This might be the least glamorous post ever!  

The simplest way to repair this is to epoxy the original screws back in place. This means packing the torn out holes with two part epoxy and setting the screws in before it sets. 

Composite wood adheres well to two part epoxy, as do steel screws because of their threads. For those who care about the technicalities of repair jobs and basic restoration, a threaded metal will always glue significantly better than a smooth one. 

In order to not make a complete fucking mess with the epoxy, I used some painters tape to protect my nice shiny toilet lid. I traced the hinge once I had determined exactly where it needed to line up.

Cut with scissors. 

 I'll admit, getting that in place was a pain.

I've said this before but I'll say it again, always dole out the two parts in two separate spots to avoid contaminating the top of the tubes. A painters pallet knife works great for this. Pallet knives are the handiest of tools and are great for any two part product (think Bondo). Be sure to buy ones that are nice and thin for their flexibility, and don't ever convince yourself that a disposable tongue depressor will do the job. 

  

Once I packed it with epoxy and set the screws, I clamped. Clamping is a must, or the repair will suck. No tape clamping, no holding in place with hands, a real clamp. And, to save oneself some sanity, always do a dry run on the clamping first, because, if something can go wrong, it will and once the clue is in there everything will be slipperier than before. Believe you me, it is much better to know ahead of time if the clamping system is going to work or not.

I had a little bit of excess glue which I knocked off with a razor blade.

After I reinstalled the seat, I went back with a Sharpie to darken the divot that was outside of the hinge. We shall see if that holds up to cleaning. No one is going to be inspecting this hinge unless they are in a really bad way :o 

While I'm on the subject of thrift and repairs I thought I might as well throw this in a second repair, which I also did last week. It's another glue and clamp job. 

The veneer was lifting off this frame. 

Plexiglass is an excellent tool for glue ups. It's rigid, and if you smear the smallest amount of paste wax (or shoe polish) on it, it will not adhere to the glue spot (wood glue that is) AND it allows one to see what they are doing. Plexiglas chunks are really great for keeping boards flush and applying equal amounts of pressure under a clamp.

Ta da! I don't know if anyone else cares about this shit, but I do. 

Let me know in the comments section. Repair nerd or no.