Rightbaby, I’ve put my finger on the ultimate issue WRT the utilities problem.

It is: that the water to the toilet can’t fully be shut off from inside, because this valve and hose are not completely holding it back, and need to be replaced.

It’s very likely that to do that, I’m going to have to go into the wall.

Then one fine Wednesday I will need to

–call the city to come shut off water at the main (they forbid owners doing this themselves, although I would very much like sometime to install another valve this side of their meter to regain my independence …),
–dry up the toilet manually and then remove it,
–determine exactly what new parts are needed and run 50 miles to obtain them,
–come back and install the new parts of the system, and,
–call the city to come turn the water back on.

None of that has anything to do with the blockage in the sewer/drain system that started all this. So while the toilet is safely pulled, I will simultaneously need to diagnose and remediate that whole thing, which may turn this into a two or three day job.

Not to mention that during that time with the toilet out of my way, I will very much want to re-patch the wall, paint it, and lay down the very first of the new flooring, around the base of it, Pergo at 2.29 per square foot at the least, although I could start with as little as 16 square feet, forty bucks worth for that part, not counting the cost of things like moisture barrier, caulking, and Henry’s Feather Finish (and/or Unipro) for liquid leveling of the ancient plywood subfloor.

Yeah.

It’s no walk down the wash. It’s no gloriously trendy vanlife conversion.

But it needs doing and there’s no one else but me to do it.