Tubs and toilets are sturdy fixtures; most last for years without any major problems. If you have an old, porcelain enamel-coated cast iron tub, you can improve its looks by repairing chips with a kit from the home center. And you can guard against moisture problems around the tub by occasionally renewing the bond between tub and wall.

As for the toilet, there’s a lot you can do to improve the way it works beyond the old “jiggle the handle” trick, which rarely fixes one of its potential problems, and then, only temporarily.

A century ago, after indoor bathroom fixtures became more universal, the standard tub was cast iron, coated with white porcelain. In the past couple of decades, however, coated stainless steel and molded acrylic are lighter-weight, cheaper, and easier-to-install tub alternatives.

If you’ve got an old tub, you can improve its appearance. New products can help you repair the surface of an old fixture.

Cast iron tubs are very heavy. Rap your knuckles against the tub wall; iron will respond with a deep thrum (and probably hurt your knuckles). The only vulnerability of these sturdy standbys is their lovely porcelain skin. Dropping something heavy in the tub can crack or chip the porcelain enamel, sometimes exposing the iron beneath the delicate surface.

The only permanent and flawless solution to repairing the damaged “skin” of an old fixture is to have it completely resurfaced (see Appendix B). The process is somewhat expensive, but far less than the cost of removing an old cast iron tub and replacing it with a similar model.

However, improvements in epoxy products have made spot repairs more acceptable. Hardware stores and home centers now stock repair kits for filling chips and small cracks in a porcelain surface. Several companies offer the repair products in a range of colors beyond plain white (and anyone who has white fixtures knows that there is a range of whites, as well).

These repairs should be done carefully, according to product directions. There are usually three steps:

If a large piece of porcelain chips off, don’t discard it. Use epoxy cement (according to directions) to glue it back in place, then perform the repair just described.

These tubs are molded from sheets of acrylic; the surface color goes completely through the material. However, people who don’t realize that acrylic is plastic mistakenly use an abrasive cleaner on this surface, and wind up scratching or dulling it. You can remove the dullness by using a product designed to polish plastic surfaces. (Many people swear by a liquid polish called Gel Gloss.)

Remove scratches and burns from acrylic tub surfaces with extremely fine sandpaper (1,500-grit is available at automotive supply stores); use a little water when you sand. Then finish the job with the liquid polish.

Whether the walls around your tub are tile, laminate, paneling, or wallpapered drywall, there should be a waterproof seam between the top edge of the tub and the wall. This nice finish is usually accomplished by applying a line of waterproof caulk at the juncture between tub and wall. The caulk prevents water from the tub or the shower-in-tub from leaking behind the tub edge, and damaging the adjoining walls and the floor beneath.

Caulk does eventually dry out, but the real culprit that cracks caulk around the tub is weight. Remember, water is heavy—more than seven pounds per gallon. So every time you fill the tub, with water and yourself, you are putting some stress on that nice, straight caulk seam. Here’s how to renew it.

To remove old caulk, you’ll need the following:

To install new caulk, you’ll need the following:

You can use the same process to install new caulk in the joint between the base of the tub and the floor.

Because the pipes that supply and drain the tub are usually behind the wall and/or under the tub, clearing a clogged tub drain is slightly different than clearing a sink drain. Some tubs have pop-up stoppers (like sinks), while others have strainer/drains. Old claw foot tubs may have a rubber plug!

The overflow for a tub is located above the drain on the wall of the tub below the tub spout.

You’ll need needlenose pliers for this one.

If the clog is stubborn, try the plunger. You’ll need the following:

Warning! When the flush handle on your toilet fails to move the water and waste out of the toilet and down the drain, ignore your impulse to flush again. You’ll probably succeed only in making the water (and everything else!) wind up on the floor.

An excess of paper (usually big wads of toilet paper) is often the culprit in a clog. Before you try any muscular solutions, try the following fix.

When my kids were little, they often used toilet paper enthusiastically, and the toilet would clog. My husband was the pro in this case. He’d ignore my bleats of dismay and go to his closet for a wire coat hanger. He’d untwist the hanger and maneuver one end into the drain portion of the toilet until the hanger hooked into the paper dam that one or the other child had created. Then he’d ease the paper back up into the bowl, with instructions to leave the mess alone for a while. If it was a really huge mass of paper, he’d remove some and dispose of it in another toilet. An hour or two later, the remains of the original offending wad would have disintegrated a bit, and usually flushed right down.

You can try it, especially if your little ones are extravagant users of toilet paper!

For a basic toilet plunge you’ll need a plunger and a bucket.

If you cannot clear the obstruction, you’ll need to call a pro.

Q: Is your toilet running?

A: Yes.

Well, go catch it!

Five-year-olds love this joke, but for the adults in the house, a running toilet isn’t funny. It’s annoying and it wastes a lot of water.

In addition to running when they shouldn’t, toilets can sweat, leak, and (believe it or not) rock. Here’s how to handle some of these problems (and which ones to leave for the pros).

First, let’s take a look at two common configurations you’re likely to see inside the toilet when you lift the tank lid.

Yes, there are a lot of named parts in this setup. But if you look at the drawing, you’ll see that the way it works is rather simple.

When you depress the flush handle to flush the toilet, the lift arm raises the lift wire, which raises the tank stopper (also called a flapper) out of the valve seat, so that water can move from the tank to the bowl, creating the flush action that siphons waste into the drain.

Because the water level is going down, the float (in this configuration, a big rubber ball) begins to drop down in the tank, also lowering the float arm. The lowering float and arm pull open the ballcock valve, which allows fresh water to enter the tank through the refill tube. As the water rises, so does the float, gradually closing the ballcock valve. When the tank is full, the water should stop flowing.

In this more modern setup, the float cup takes the place of the float (the rubber ball) in the older version. The cup can be raised or lowered to adjust the water level in the tank.

If the water runs and runs after you flush, you’ll need to take a look inside the tank. So remove the lid and observe the following.

If you’ve got a float ball in your tank and it’s partially submerged, or has water inside it, you need to replace it. Shut off the water supply at the supply stop (or the main, if there is no supply stop), and flush the toilet. Unscrew the float from the float arm (turn counterclockwise), take it to the hardware store and buy a replacement. Attach the new float (turn clockwise), and turn on the supply stop.

If the float won’t rise sufficiently to stop the inlet valve from running water into the tank, then the water will keep running. To adjust the float, manually lift the float arm; if that stops the water from running, bend the float arm down, or away from the tank wall. To adjust the float cup, press the clip that adjusts the float cup and try moving it up to raise the water level.

If the water level is not the problem, a running toilet is often caused by a poor seal between the tank stopper and the valve seat. Or, the stopper is worn and needs to be replaced.

With the tank lid open, if you observe the flush and notice that the tank stopper (see the earlier illustration of a toilet with ballcock valve assembly) is not closing firmly over the toilet valve seat, the water will continue to run out of the tank, no matter how much water flows in. You want the stopper to drop directly over the valve seat.

Try changing the position of the lift rod (or chain) on the lift arm. You can try making the chain longer or shorter. If that doesn’t help the stopper seal over the valve seat, you can try two other fixes.

To clean the stopper and valve seat, you’ll need a sponge and a pad of fine steel wool.

If not, here’s how to replace the stopper.

You’ll need to remove the tank lid to watch the flush action.

If the screw that connects the flush handle to the lift arm is loose, tighten this connection.

Or the stopper may close before the tank empties; in that case, adjust the lift rod or chain. If this is the cause, usually the rod or chain needs to be lengthened a bit to give the water a tiny bit more time to drain out.

Water dripping in various locations on the outside of the tank or bowl can mean a leak—which can be serious. Or the water can be a result of condensation (“sweat”), which can be cured by insulating the inside of the tank.

To detect a leak, you’ll need the following:

With either of these problems, the toilet needs to be taken apart. It’s best to call a plumber. However, if there is no leak, you’ve probably got a condensation problem. This often happens in the summer, when humid conditions create the ideal environment for sweaty toilets. You can live with the problem in hot weather, wiping down the fixture when it gets sweaty, or you can be industrious and insulate the tank.

Personally, I just use a towel in hot weather when one or more of our toilets sweat. But if you want, you can insulate the tank with ¼" sheets of polystyrene foam cut to match the dimensions of the sides, front and back of the tank.

To do this, you need to turn off the water supply, flush the toilet until the tank is empty, wipe it down, and create paper templates for all four inside walls of the toilet tank. Trace the dimensions of the templates onto the polystyrene sheets, cut them out, and then fit them in the tank. Glue the polystyrene to the walls of the tank with waterproof mastic. Be careful that the insulation does not block or impede any of the toilet’s inner workings.

If this sounds like too much work, when your toilet starts to sweat, just grab a clean old towel and do the daily wipe down!

A rocking toilet is not a good thing. When you sit on the toilet and it seems to rock, it most likely means that the wax ring seal is broken. This can cause a leak that can ruin your floor (and the ceiling below it). Call a plumber right away.