Until closing when I was still in Seattle and nobody checked the toilet during the final walkthrough and when I got there the thing was still loose. Moral of the story - twice now sellers haven't followed up with fixing what they said they'd do. Try not to let it happen a third time...
Anyway one short year later I get around to fixing this toilet. Hey, what can I say... I never use that bathroom and it wasn't leaking. I pull the toilet off and scrape off the remains of the wax seal and take a look.
Awesome, the builder cut the hole for the closet flange just a little too big so it couldn't be attached correctly. And the screws they did use were rusted out. The toilet was attached only by the drain which thankfully hasn't leaked yet and one lonely screw that'd somehow survived. The repair is really simple - something that anybody can do for about $20 in parts (or a couple hundred for a plumber... take your pick).
Once you get done wondering why somebody would want to use metal parts around a toilet where they'll rust out, you'll only need to buy a couple of things. Get a repair flange from Lowes, Ace, McCoys (wherever), mount it and drill a few holes through the floor where the screws holding it to the floor will go. Screw it in, and now drill through the holes where the existing flange used to attach to the floor. Once you install the new screws it's all held together, stronger than it was when it was new.
Now use a new wax ring and install the toilet back where it was and use rubber shims as needed. In my case the floor is depressed a bit behind the toilet, maybe from the weight of the water tank after all these years. The floor was dry with no signs of water damage... maybe a really heavy person sat there. Who knows. Anway, good as new. When I get around to redoing the floor in that bathroom I'll cut out a section of the subfloor and reinforce as needed, along with putting a new PVC flange in with stainless steel screws. That'll take care of everything.
Got a couple of people to have a look at the roof. The first quote is amazing, especially considering all the flashing and whatnot he's including. The owner of that company lives behind my house and over one and I really hope he comes out as the best deal. The first thing both people said when they saw the roof was something about all the hail damage. There was a hailstorm in February (the 10th?) but I didn't think it was that bad. I've already emailed my agent... maybe I can get a discount here. That'd be great.
I've had to rethink some of the plans about the flooring and everything in the living room. Since I'll probably be going back to the PNW for a long while this fall it would be a really terrible time to start a major project. Even if I wound up contracting out the floor I'd still have to get the fireplace work, mantle and surround done before then or else I'll have a gap later. There's just not enough time for that. So in the meantime I'll just take care of refinishing the door and getting a new window put in before I go. With the new roof it's also the perfect opportunity to add an exhaust fan to the shower in the jack and jill bathrooms upstairs. Right now there's only a fan in each room with the sink and toilet. Dunno why there wasn't one since day one...
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