If your toilet is old and in need of repairs, it is cheaper to replace it by installing a new one. This is quite easy to do and can be completed in an afternoon. However, if you plan to install a toilet in a new location, you will have to extend supply pipes and drainpipes to desired spot, a job you may want to leave to a plumbing contractor.

Most toilets are sold with necessary gaskets, washers, and hardware for fitting tank to bowl. However you might need to buy a few parts. Here is a list of what you need to complete this task:

- Toilet bowl - Toilet tank - Toilet seat - Two 1/4" bolts for bowl to flange - Wax ring - 20" water supply with fitting at valve or floor connection Tools: Pair of channel pliers, bucket, screw driver.

(Many of these can be ordered online at any DIY website such as DIY Tips UK: http://www.diy-tips-uk.com/plumbing/)

1. Shut off water to toilet, use a bucket and a cloth or a sponge to remove water left in tank and bowl after you flush toilet.

2. Using a pair of channel pliers, or a small pipe wrench (8"), remove nut where water line fastens to ballcock valve under left side of bottom of tank. Next use a small crescent wrench, remove two 1/4" nuts holding bowl to floor flange. Remove old toilet. Remove water line from valve or fitting at floor or wall.

CHECKING: The new visitor to any log home is invariably struck by cracks in logs, sometimes stretching for several feet.  Initially they might look alarming, but these cracks, or checks, are a natural process that occurs over first few years when logs are still drying and reaching equilibrium with environment. In no way do they weaken integrity of your log wall.

When trees are cut down, there is naturally still some moisture left in cells, especially when tree is cut down live. These logs are called "green" and will settle many inches if used right away to build a house. Some manufacturers let their logs dry naturally – air dried – while others put logs in a kiln and bake them for 30-45 days, which removes 80-85% of moisture. However, they can't go any farther without doing damage to wood, so logs dry naturally for next few years, and this process can create checks in wood to relieve pressure. However, heartwood closest to center of tree is so hard that checks will not go beyond center of log. As a result, you will not see checks go all way through.

SETTLING: As you may already suspect, there is a relationship between moisture content and settling of your log walls. No, settling does not have to be a "dirty word". As long as your builder knows how to deal with settling and make provisions for windows, doors, plumbing, and interior walls, your house can settle many inches and still age comfortably. Any log home will come with about a 2" gap above all doors and windows, which will need to be filled with insulation. The builder will cut a vertical groove in frame and affix nails to windows and doors that will slide down groove as building settles, so nothing gets crushed. Most kiln-dried homes will only settle a couple of inches overall, and much of that will occur during construction phase.