Most good garbage disposal will recommend replacing a gate valve regardless of its condition. The time to discover if it will work is not during a flood in your bathroom. If you have it replaced with a ball valve then check your water heater and laundry valves, too. Have them replaced at the same time with premium ball valves. Ball valve laundry bibbs make it easy to shut off the water to the washer after each use which may help to prevent floods in the future.
There are two, one on each side of the toilet, closet bolts which hold the toilet to the floor. If there are caps over the bolts, remove or pop them open. Using a small crescent wrench unscrew the nuts from the bolts. Alternate side to side when unscrewing this will be much more important when reinstalling the water line repair bolts but alternate anyhow.
There may be more pipes in your home than you think. Your home gets all the water it needs, either from a municipal water connection or from a well, through one central pipe, which branches out and distributes water to all the other places in your home that need it. These pipes run under your floors and sometimes through your walls. Most of the time, they take care of themselves and you never need to think about them.
The location of a plumbing contractor is a key factor. This is because he or she will not only charge you an hourly rate, but travel costs will also be charged. This can add a significant amount to the final bill if the contractor has to travel from the other side of town.
Here are some general cautions. Do not begin jobs on holidays, weekends, or at times when plumbers raise their rates or are difficult to reach. Do start early leaving plenty of daylight to call a plumber if something goes wrong. Study the situation carefully. Think about what might happen if something suddenly broke and what the effects would be. Old corroded copper tubing might break in the wall when you are wrenching an angle stop that supplies the water line repair to your toilet. A flood in the wall could be costly. If the angle stop, on the other hand, is new and shuts off easily and you have another toilet in the house then it might make sense to repair the toilet yourself. Be honest, too. Are you handy with tools? Did you do well in shop classes in school?
If you do in fact choose to replace it, there is a good chance that you have an Aqua Magic IV which is no longer produced and has been replaced with the new Aqua Magic V. If you are replacing your toilet and have the Thetford Aqua Magic IV, there are other options such as the Thetford Aqua Magic Style Plus or Thetford Bravura Toilet as well as choices from the Sealand line of toilets. You will have to choose whether you want a hand or foot flush, and whether you want to stay with plastic or upgrade to china. You will also have the choice of adding a water saver. Regardless of which choice you make you will most likely be happy with the quality and dependability of any product available.
The next huge thing is to prevent and kill mold that has already started growing. Mold is the most dangerous thing when an area floods. Mold can turn deadly within a extended period of time. Use mold killing agents like Killz and other products on the the market. Be extremely thorough with this process. If the water flooded above the dry wall line, you MUST remove the dry wall to make sure you can replace insulation and dry wall which mold naturally is attracted to. Painting a Killz primer on the concrete is a great idea before installing new carpet and drywall. This will ensure that you have prevented future mold growth and will also ensure the safety of your family.