Toilet flush handle sticking - what to do?

[trader-of-some-jacks]

A toilet in my house is constantly leaking water, in that you can see the water in the bowl has waves in it caused by water flowing into the bowl.

This seems to be caused by the flush handle sticking. I can give the handle a gentle upward lift, the outer edge of the handle rises maybe a quarter inch, and then in a few minutes, the ripples in the bowl cease.

The toilet gets used by my kids, and none of them seem to have the "lift the handle" edict figured out.

So what do I do now (dumb question, I admit it)? The flapper valve is in good shape, there's no buildup on either the valve or where it seats, the chain is long enough but not too long and doesn't tangle on itself. I just need to figure the "trick" to make the handle stop sticking.

[trader-of-some-jacks]

Okay, earlier in the thread I reported on fixing my problem, and in passing mentioned that I spilled a lot of the water that I'd drained from the toilet.

So I just noticed a few brown spots on the kitchen ceiling below that bathroom. They're not dark and they're not big - but they're noticeable.

Other than painting the whole ceiling again - I hate painting anyway - there must be some reliable way to remove or cover up brown water spots on a white ceiling. I tried some clorox spray and lightened the spots, but managed to damage a colored shirt I was wearing because of a drip from the spray.

We're talking about an area about three inches by a half-inch in size, with maybe seven little spots in it. Give me some ideas, please, on how to make the spots not noticeable against the painted white ceiling.

[cowboy]

paint the ceiling brown

[PaPaPeng]

I had a similar problem (rain*) on my textured ceiling. Saw a broken bag of that blow-on stuff at Home Depot and asked for a couple of handfuls; free. Dampened that and daubed that onto the stain with a paintbrush. Looks good, like the stain was never there.

• rain stains from water that blew into the roof cooling fan. Put a large galvanized metal sheet between the rafters and under the fan to form a channel to catch the water and drain it out through the soffits. That was more than 10 years ago. Works good.

[trader-of-some-jacks]

Sounds promising. Could you say more about what product that is (sorry, I'm not very knowledgeable), and the technique you used?

[PaPaPeng]

I don't recall the product name either. Just go to HD and read the label or ask the staff about blown on ceiling texturing. It looks and feels like fine matte white popcorn styrofoam. Application is exactly as described. Put some in a container and dampen it without making it soggy. Pick some up with a paintbrush and daub it onto the ceiling. It won't stick very well but enough will remain behind to do the job.

[trader-of-some-jacks]

This particular ceiling is a "regular" flat ceiling. But it sounded like there was a painting technique that might work.

I do have a stain on a popcorn ceiling elsewhere in the house.

[Travis Jordan]

Kilz or BIN sealer followed by matching paint is about the best solution.